After the collapse of construction company Toplace, more than $500 million worth of housing projects are up for sale, leaving thousands of apartment owners in the lurch.
Sydney businessman Jean Nassif’s failed real estate empire is being broken up by big money lenders looking to sell to recover millions in debt.
Thousands of apartment owners living in Toplace buildings are concerned they won’t recoup enough money to fix serious defects after major lenders moved to expropriate Toplace assets to mitigate their own losses.
Toplace, described as one of Australia’s largest private development and construction companies, collapsed in July and voluntarily went into administration.
Sydney businessman Jean Nassif (left)’s failed real estate empire is being broken up by big money lenders seeking sales to recover millions in debt. (Right in the picture, Nisserine ‘Nissy’ Nassif)
Clearly, the company’s collapse could affect more than 20,000 homeowners in 20 buildings.
That’s what a source close to one of the owner’s companies told us The Sydney Morning Herald that the owners’ biggest fear “is that any legitimate claim or opportunity to recover money for defective work will be gobbled up by secured creditors.”
Clearly, court documents have predicted that Nassif’s failed real estate operation has debts of more than $1.24 billion, including $88.5 million owed to suppliers and merchants.
Detectives from the NSW Police Organized Crime Squad issued an arrest warrant for Nassif in June, alleging he obtained a $150 million loan from Westpac through fraudulent documents relating to Toplace’s Skyview development in Castle Hill.
Nassif has been living in Lebanon since December.
It is believed that Nassif has been living in Lebanon since December
Nassif has appointed trustees dVT Group to manage most of its crumbling business, but banks and finance companies, which have mortgages on a number of development blocks, as well as unsold apartments in existing buildings, have begun appointing receivers to protect their own interests .
The trustees, who had taken control of the assets, were now on the verge of a sale and “that process is expected to begin soon,” a source close to one of the lenders told the Sydney Morning Herald.
One project up for sale is Nassif’s ambitious plan for the Box Hill City Center in Sydney’s fast-growing north-west.
Work on the project has been halted and social media accounts are said to have fallen silent.
Nassif secured loans worth $252 million for the Box Hill site, along with several other unfinished projects from Australian-based real estate finance group MaxCap Group.
In nearby Castle Hill, Toplace’s partially completed Skyview tower complex, which includes 960 apartments, was shut down and remediated after large cracks were discovered in the buildings.
Meanwhile, in western Sydney’s Schofields, another empty plot of land is the planned site of 1381 apartments in a complex of 17.
More than 20 apartment buildings have a range of defects.
Nassif secured loans worth $252 million for planned development in Box Hill, Sydney’s northwest
“The council sympathizes with buyers caught up in a difficult circumstance,” a spokesman for the Blacktown council told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The council staff will continue to ensure that when development finally comes to fruition, all roads and services are built to council standards.”
There is also concern that lenders will charge penalty interest rates of up to 30 percent now that Toplace is in receivership.
Nassif became a social media sensation in 2019 when he gave his wife, Nisserine ‘Nissy’ Nassif, a $480,000 yellow Lamborghini for Valentine’s Day.
He uploaded a video of him presenting the luxury vehicle to his children’s mother with the comment, “Congratulations Ms. Nassif… do you like it?”
It was revealed last week that the high-profile couple had split, after Ms Nassif changed her Instagram name and was spotted without her wedding ring.
On her Instagram account ‘nissyyyworld’, she has removed ‘wifey’ from her profile, as well as her last name ‘Nassef’, which is spelled differently from Nassif.
Earlier this year, Mr Nassif was summoned to appear before a NSW parliamentary inquiry into allegations of impropriety in Hills Shire City Council, but declined to testify via video link from Lebanon for legal reasons.