The man behind the Monaco Resort is liable to repay more than $7 million to investors in the hotel project, a judge has ruled.
In 2013, about 40 investors sued hotelier Scott Sanders and Monaco Village Limited ( MVL) for an estimated $12 million.
They complained that their lease agreements left their promised share of Monaco profits eaten up by operational costs and fees. They sought to have these agreements declared invalid by the court.
The development is now trading as Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco Hotel and Resort.
The suit, brought by investors who bought units for as much as $385,000 each, alleged insufficient disclosure by MVL and Sanders.
In a High Court decision released this week, Justice Dunningham agreed, saying that Sanders was liable to repay 11 of these investors the $7.4m they paid for Monaco dwellings.
Other investors were not liable to be repaid as their investment fell outside the statute of limitations, the decision said.
Monaco Village was first proposed in 2003 as a ‘‘luxury lifestyle attractive investment’’ that offered investors the right to buy hotel or apartment units to be managed as tourism accommodation.
It promised returns of 11.14 per cent and was, according the the advertising brochure, a ‘‘solid investment’’ with ‘‘regular income’’. However, Justice Dunningham said ‘‘those promises proved hollow’’.
‘‘The investors are yet to see returns. Indeed … the plaintiffs are still paying to support it.’’
The development faced multiple difficulties with MVL going into receivership and liquidation and Sanders selling personal assets, including his Christchurch property to fund the company. This was ‘‘all to no avail,’’ Justice Dunningham said.
He reserved his decision on awarding of costs.
(The Nelson Mail, Monday, December 5th, 2016)
Cyclists and walkers may soon be able to put the 125-year-old Spooners Tunnel, near Nelson, back on their itineraries.
Engineers were due to check the popular addition to Tasman’s Great Taste Trail today and may give it the all-clear to reopen.
The former railway tunnel was closed in July after a routine structural inspection identified movement in a small crack at the northern entrance.
A report on the matter by Tasman District Council chief executive Lindsay McKenzie in September said the repair plan involved the installation of two steel buttresses against the portal face ‘‘to hold it back and stop the slow rotation that is happening’’.
He also outlined council hopes that the Government would pick up the estimated $117,600 bill for the repair work.
TDC community relations manager Chris Choat said the engineers would be inspecting the buttresses today as well as checking the tunnel for any potential damage from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on November 14 or its aftershocks.
The engineers had been busy checking for earthquake damage across the district since mid-November and had not been able to get to the tunnel earlier.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, December 7th, 2016)
The battle to retain the Golden Bay grandstand is heading to court.
Lawyer Warwick Heal said an appeal of a Heritage New Zealand decision to allow Tasman District Council to demolish the grandstand had been lodged with the Environment Court. Other documents included an enforcement order so the council ‘‘can’t remove or demolish the grandstand’’ in the meantime and a declaration regarding the council consultation over the structure, Heal said.
Heal said he was a barrister instructed by the solicitors acting for the Golden Bay Grand Stand Community Trust.
One of the trust founders, Jill Pearson, said the trust decided it had to lodge an appeal.
The move comes after Heritage New Zealand on November 21 gave permission to TDC to remove the 117-yearold grandstand subject to conditions including the need for an archaeologist to be present during the demolition. Its decision is subject to a 15-day appeal period.
Heal said he thought it could be ‘‘some months’’ before the matter was heard by the court.
Council community relations manager Chris Choat said as a responsible public body, the council would ‘‘abide by the process’’. The grandstand is earmarked for removal to make way for a car park as part of a new multimilliondollar recreation centre nearing comhasn’t pletion near Takaka. Just as contractors began work in March, a campaign to retain the building flared up in the community.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, December 8th, 2016)
Wheels have been set in motion for a funding boost to enhance Nelson Tasman cycle trails.
The Government is investing $837,132 across cycle trails nationwide, in its fifth round of its Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund.
The Tasman Great Taste Trail has been allocated $96,800 of the funding, while Nelson’s Dun Mountain Trail will get $69,000.
Nelson Tasman Cycle Trail Trust Chair Gillian Wratt said any funding received for the upkeep of the trails is significant.
She said the funding allocated to the Tasman Great Taste Trail would pay for work done to reopen Spooners Tunnel.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, December 9th, 2016)
Tasman District Council is hopeful it can get the necessary documentation so the Golden Bay A&P Association can use the new recreation centre for its show in January.
TDC community development manager Susan Edwards told councillors on Thursday that the council was working towards achieving a Certificate for Public Use for the A&P show, which is due to be held on January 21.
Edwards’ comments come after Golden Bay Shared Recreation Facility Committee funding manager Sara Chapman said she feared legal action that was launched this week could prevent the planned temporary use of the new centre for the A&P show and possibly jeopardise its opening, scheduled for March 4.
The Golden Bay Grand Stand Community Trust has lodged in the Environment Court an appeal of a Heritage NZ decision to allow TDC to demolish a historic grandstand to make way for a car park as part of the new multimilliondollar centre near Takaka.
Chapman said she was concerned the Certificate for Public Use would not be able to be issued because the new centre would not have the required parking spaces while the grandstand remained.
The required parking could not be provided elsewhere on TDC land, she said.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, December 9th, 2016)
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson