The controversial and troublesome 4186m2 site facing the beach at the entrance to Sumner village has been fenced bare land for years, except for a tavern building with a large derelict and often-flooded basement car park underneath.
One of the owners, Lime Developments, has refused to comment on its latest plans but it appears a 2021 a proposal to build apartments with a wine bar underneath, alongside a private residence, have evaporated.
Another shareholder, developer Shane Kennedy, had been in talks with the city council, saying he intended to start building in 2021. A resource consent was granted last year but now a new resource consent application has been lodged for a larger complex called The Marriner. It proposes 14 apartments and six commercial units covering the entire western half of the site.
For more than 25 years the former Cave Rock Apartments site has been plagued with conflict, bitterness, controversy and bad luck.
It started in the mid-1990s when plans for a 49-apartment Peter Beavan-designed complex was first announced by developer Peter Foster, and neighbours objected.
They were finally approved and the complex was built in 1998.
Just a few years later problems emerged as many of the apartments were found to have design defects and were leaky buildings. An agreement had to be negotiated with the city council and the builder to repair them.
The entire complex then became the subject of a long and bitter dispute between the owners, and with EQC and NZI (part of IAG) over how to repair the buildings and flooded basement car park at the eastern end of the site.
The complex continued to suffer after the quakes, Mainzeal went bust, and architect Peter Beavan died aged 86 from cancer caused by asbestos. The main block was finally demolished in 2012.
In 2016, the owners rejected a $16 million full and final settlement offer from the insurers and two more years went by before they finally settled at mediation on the eve of High Court action for an undisclosed sum.
A plan to rebuild the main block was then abandoned after costs escalated and, in 2018, a conditional offer to purchase the property as-is-where-is for $4.8m was accepted.
More in-fighting followed as four apartment owners, unhappy with how the money was to be distributed, refused to sell. They included the original developer, Peter Foster.
The High Court was called on to settle that dispute, too, ordering them to sell. Then, even more dispute and legal action over the agreed purchase price after vandals damaged the buildings.
The purchaser Jonathan Lyttle of Citadel Property said at the time he was excited about taking over the site.
“We are really happy for the members of the body corporate and owners who have been through quite an ordeal,” he said.
However, not long after, he demolished the remaining apartments and in mid-2020 the land was divided into five plots, later changed to four, in a process complicated by a stormwater easement running through the middle of the site.
The sections were marketed for a while as sites for owner-occupiers or builders, but only one sold.
Concrete foundations were poured for the private residence and locals said timber framing and trusses turned up on site but soon after, they were taken away again.
Marriner Developments then acquired the entire site.
City council planners said they cannot confirm when the latest application for a mixed use complex might be considered.
Who owns the Sumner site?
The old Cave Rock Apartments site is currently in four titles, three of which are owned by Marriner Developments Ltd.
A closely related company, Marriner No 2 Ltd owns the fourth.
Marriner Developments’ shareholders are Lime Developments and Next Level Projects Ltd.
Each has 40 per cent. David and Patricia Moylan from Mt Pleasant have a 20 per cent holding.
Lime Developments’ Directors are Jack Lin and Fred Rahme.
The company has been involved in developing Silverstream Estate, Brookvale in Lincoln and has partnered on government projects with Kāinga Ora.
David Moylan is a director with a related company, Lime Ventures.
He lives in Mt Pleasant and was formerly chief executive of Vault Intelligence Ltd, part of an Australian workplace compliance and safety technology group.
Shane Kennedy is a director and major shareholder with Next Level Projects and related companies.
He is a race horse trainer and is a director and major shareholder in multiple other companies involved with residential and commercial development.
In 2015, Kennedy controversially obtained a court order stopping St Bede’s College from excluding his son from its Maadi Cup rowing team as a punishment after his son and a friend jumped on an Auckland Airport baggage conveyor.
-By Tony Simons
