Beetham’s West Tower in administration
THE company that owns Liverpool’s tallest building, West Tower, has been placed into administration.
The 40-storey West Tower building is owned by a special purpose vehicle, West Tower Liverpool Ltd. It contains 123 apartments – 106 of which are let to tenants.
A further 17 properties are are either owner-occupied or in the process of being sold.
The building was developed by the Beetham Organization – the Liverpool-based property developer owned by Hugh Frost and son Steven Beetham. It is the second of two towers that company has built in its home city and was completed in 2008.
The Beetham Organization has also built towers in Manchester, Birmingham and had permission to build No1 Blackfriars in London, but that scheme stalled due to problems with its funding.
Les Ross and Martin Ellis of Grant Thornton UK LLP have been appointed as joint administrators of West Tower Liverpool.
The Panoramic Restaurant on the 34th floor of the tower is owned by a separate company and is not involved in the administration. It continues to trade normally and is not affected by the administration.
Ross said: “We’d like to reassure all existing and future occupants that West Tower will continue to function normally, with services provided by the present managing agent Braemar Group.
“It will be business as normal for the people who live in and use West Tower.
“Over the coming days and weeks we will be considering the most appropriate strategy for the site but it’s worth saying that we recognise the value of West Tower and its unique position in the city.”
The most recent set of accounts for West Tower Liverpool Ltd for the year to September 30, 2009, showed that the value of its net assets (principally the Tower) dropped by £5m to £21.5m. It also owed £21.5m to the bank.
Ross said that West Tower Liverpool Limited had been affected by the fall in market values since the building was completed and had struggled to meet significant bank borrowing. The company was funded by Anglo Irish Bank.
