Elliot Group’s spectacular residential scheme close to Liverpool waterfront was put into administration earlier this year but now a deal to allow it to resume may be close. Tony McDonough reports
A deal to sell a spectacular high-rise residential scheme, comprising three towers and 1,000 apartments close to Liverpool waterfront, could be concluded in weeks.
Developer Elliot Group started work on the £250m Infinity project, on the corner of Pall Mall and Leeds Street, in March 2019. But in December Elliot founder Elliot Lawless was arrested by Merseyside Police as part of an ongoing fraud investigation.
He was released shortly afterwards without charge and the High Court later refused to allow the police to extend his bail and it also ruled the raid on his home, during which cash was seized, was unlawful.
Mr Lawless maintains his innocence but the saga knocked investor confidence and caused three of his property schemes – Infinity and Aura in Liverpool and The Residence in Manchester – to be placed into administration.
In June it was announced Mr Lawless had agreed a deal for the disposal of the £100m Aura scheme to a consortium of its original investors that had funded the project prior to its administration.
This week, Estates Gazette reported that administrators David Rubin and Partners had given Mr Lawless until September 3 to conclude a deal for the disposal of Aura, a project, he has said, that will “dominate Liverpool’s skyline”.
Mr Lawless has now confirmed that negotiations for the disposal of Infinity remain on-going with creditors and the scheme’s administrator. The first of the development’s three towers was placed into administration in March and Mr Lawless confirmed that discussions with creditors are proving “constructive”.
He added: “This is a complex negotiation and our core objective is to protect the interests of the scheme’s creditors. Many of the creditors backed Elliot Group on numerous of our previous schemes and helped us deliver more than two and a half thousand homes, so we are not about to walk away from them.
“Our discussions are constructive and we hope to conclude them shortly.”