Port Geographe gets lifeline
The troubled Port Geographe development looks set to get another lifeline, with a company controlled by mining rich lister Tony Poli buying the land for $13.5 million.
In a deal flagged by The West Australian last year, Mr Poli's company Aigle Royal Developments this morning announced the deal to buy a number of "titled canal lots" which will be marketed later in the year and approximately 59 hectares of "undeveloped englobo land"
That land will be subdivided into about 120 canal lots and 530 residential lots over an expected 10 year development plan.
The company said the current development concept plan was yet to be finalised.
Though the current proposal was for the creation of "a mixture of residential and canal waterfront lots", and "large public open space areas".
Mr Poli, the former major shareholder of iron ore miner Aquila Resources, banked about $400 million after a joint takeover of the company by transport specialists Aurizon and China's Baosteel last year.
He has been looking for property investments since, with this understood to be his first significant deal.
Port Geographe, 6km outside of Busselton, was only partly completed after the collapse of the developer - a joint venture between Macquarie Group, Luke Saraceni and Axiom Properties - in August 2011.
It left the Westpac-owned St George Bank owed $100 million.
The collapse was blamed on falling house prices and the environmental obligations of the developer to remove toxic seaweed which had piled up on Geographe Bay because of groynes built to keep the development's canals open.
In 2012 the State Government commenced a $28.15 million programme of rehabilitative work which included the reconfiguration of the coastal structures and a marina entrance.
Aigle Royal Developments said project works would commence in 2016 subject to all approvals being obtained.
