QLDC leaks Lakeview sod turning date to council funded Mountain Scene

News of a claimed start of construction, in three weeks’ time, at the troubled Lakeview site has been trumpeted by the council funded Mountain Scene newspaper - with no mention of the $100 million loss to the ratepayer or victory for the Australian developers.

If the story is correct, it means the developers will have avoided the project going back to the council’s beneficial ownership by avoiding an April 2026 shutdown clause if construction did not start. The land, that has been empty since the deal was done, is estimated to be worth at least $80 million in terms of 2026 value. The developers have 20 years to repay the $42 million land price agreed by QLDC - with the offer of unspecified “super profits” to be shared with QLDC if certain (so far secret) thresholds are met.

The story details suggest that Lakeview apartment pre-sales are stalled at around $150 million for the $2 billion project, but the start of construction means that Australian company 94 Feet will get the land at the 2017 valuation of $42 million. One partial rates rise has already been linked to the extraordinary council-funded land preparation cost of the Lakeview project.

In spite of a 10 part investigation Crux has been unable to discover why outgoing QLDC CEO Mike Theelen volunteered to meet all development costs in addition to the discounted (over time) land price and 20 year payment terms. Mr Theelen was given sole delegated power over Lakeview back around the time of the original Lakeview deal and subsequent efforts by some councillors, including Niki Gladding, to have that delegation reversed have been met by resistance from other councillors and Mr Theelen himself.

Council special projects manager Paul Speedy, a former ski field employee, has been in operational charge of the Lakeview project (on the right in image above) alongside Mr Theelen.

• Thursday’s Mountain Scene, January 22 - $100 million loss ignored. The newspaper company receives $200,000 a year from QLDC ratepayers.

Crux understands that the sod turning ceremony will be a difficult occasion for Mayor John Glover who is considering an investigation into what went wrong with the Lakeview deal.

Local real estate company Sotheby’s International Realty claim in the Mountain Scene story today that it will take 15 years to complete the Lakeview project noting the inclusion of “six star hotels, laneways lined with restaurants, bars, art galleries and hot pools” but no mention of the affordable worker accomodation that ratepayers were promised back at the start of the project ten years ago.

• The QLDC Lakeview apartments will cost up to $20 million each - in the middle of a local crisis over the lack of worker accommodation.

The luxury Lakeview apartments will cost up to $20 million each and be accessed by the controversial ratepayer funded “road to nowhere” if stages 2 and 3 are ever built.

• The January 22 Mountain Scene story - no mention of the loss to local ratepayers

Crux has approached the QLDC’s communications team to ask for an explanation of how this story, if true, ended up in their own council-funded newspaper with no media release to other local news platforms.