And in the decade since Manta Group bought the site for $19.8 million from the De Angelis hotelier family, there’s not a lot of building work to show for itself. Instead of the proposed eight residential towers and commercial blocks, there are only a few roads, footpaths and street lights.
Licata blames council red tape, zoning issues, consultancy reports and COVID-related supply issues for the cost blowout.
What the Middleton Grange development is supposed to look like when it is completed.
Licata and Simone have shrugged off adversity previously. They are both former bankrupts known for their matching his and hers Maseratis, and Simone made headlines in 2021 when she was nominated, unsuccessfully, for local Liberal party pre-selection.
Her nomination was likely marred by revelations that on her official form, she had ticked “no” when asked if she had been engaged in any business involving property development in the past seven years.
At the time Simone was a co-director with Licata of the family company that was a major shareholder in Manta Group. Simone maintained she declared the interest on a separate form.
The member for Cook Simon Kennedy (left) with fellow Liberal Party member Rene Licata.Credit: Facebook
Meanwhile, the couple’s former home, a two-bedroom house on a busy street in Woolooware, was sold in 2023 for $1.76 million to corporate interests ultimately owned by Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, chief executive of United Arab Emirates mega-developer Arada.
In a case of happy coincidence, that same Woolooware house resold late last year for $2.04 million to a company owned by Licata and Simone’s long-time associate Matt Daniel, a controversial mover and shaker among Liberal Party types in southern Sydney, who was sacked as Liverpool Council’s deputy general manager in 2013 for allegedly failing to declare he was an undischarged bankrupt.
Daniel is a town planner and director of Pacific Planning, which is listed on Manta Group’s administrator’s report as owed $24,245.
Daniel’s latest work on behalf of Manta Group was to lodge an amendment to the subdivision of Middleton Grange town centre. However, the panel rejected it last week, citing the unconventional plans could potentially leave some blocks landlocked.
Loading
All is not lost for the Middleton Grange town centre, however. Investment firm Alceon Finance has vowed to push ahead with the project, appointing its own expert consultants to project manage the completion of the civil works with the administrators.
Two of the project’s major commercial lots – one flagged as a supermarket and another as a potential hotel – have already sold.
The civil work is expected to be complete in the second half of this year ready for sale to a new developer to take over the project.
Alceon’s involvement in Middleton Grange goes back to a land and civil works loan facility of late 2022, by which time the town centre had already secured the first tick of approval by the local planning panel for 671 apartments across eight buildings.
Among the many setbacks faced by the project was a 2019 protest by locals when hundreds of objections were lodged over the project’s initial size and scale.
An artist’s impression of the proposed Middleton Grange town centre, still with no DA for the town centre.Credit: Liverpool City Council
As a result, the planning controls were amended in 2022 to limit the number of apartments to more than 600, reduce the heights from 11 storeys to eight, and double the amount of public space available.
There is no development application approval for the town centre.
As well as the $68.39 million owed to Alceon as the secured lender, there is an outstanding $778,000 land tax bill and $18,800 owed to Liverpool Council, according to the report lodged by administrator Costa Nicodemou of Newpoint Advisory.
Company records indicate that more than $3 million is owed to the interests of Licata and former co-director Obaida Al Hassan. Licata said the money is for work they undertook on the project over the past decade.
Licata wouldn’t reveal if he still has his black Maserati, but sources say Simone is reduced to driving a red Mini Cooper, albeit a limited edition 37.
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.
Read the full article here
