Industry pioneer, Ted Sent, faces up to another challenge in his remarkable career. Today (Friday), the receiver David Lofthouse from CJL was appointed to PeopleFirst Beachmere Sands, a huge development at the base of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. His other PeopleFirst village developments, La Quencia and The Grange at Moe (Victoria), and not involved.
Ted created the Primelife group from scratch, building the largest village operation of its time and the best known village brand in Australia. He sold out to what became Babcock & Brown Communities, which is now Lend Lease Primelife. While most people approaching 70 years of age would have retired with the proceeds of the sale, Ted established PeopleFirst and set about creating his biggest development, Beachmere Sands, a 10 year development with over 1,100 ILUs. Stage One and the $11 million clubhouse both won numerous building industry awards for quality and design. 55 ILUs have been completed and mostly sold.
Teds finance was provided under a Managed Investment Scheme (syndicates of private investors) and with the Global Financial Crisis some of those investors could not continue and one sought their money back. Reportedly this led to the receiver being appointed today despite alternative funding due to be in place over the next three months. With a loan to valuation ratio of less than 45% (valuations made in December), Beachmere would appear to be healthier than a number of other village investments.
