'Paused' development to restart

Vasse Newtown has been set back more than a year, amid developer Luke Saraceni’s financial battle over his Perth Raine Square project.

Hanson Property managing director Geoff Hanson confirmed there was a 15-month “pregnant pause” in construction at Vasse, partly caused when Mr Saraceni’s Perth officeblock development encountered financial difficulty last year.

Receivers moved in on Raine Square in January after Mr Saraceni’s company Saracen Properties was understood to have missed significant bank payments during construction.

Mr Hanson is part of a joint venture with Mr Saraceni, owning 49 per cent of Vasse Newtown, while the remaining 51 per cent is owned by Perth investors.

“The Vasse development has been delayed … it wasn’t our decision, it was made by influences such as the global financial crisis and Raine Square,” Mr Hanson said.

After a period Mr Hanson described as “stagnant”, Vasse Newton construction was restarting, with tenders for 123 residential lots set to go out in the next two months.

Aged care provider St Ives was caught up in the delay while it waited on land for a 90-bed aged care facility.

St Ives director Ray Fitzgerald said the facility, part of the development’s next stage, was put on hold during the delay, while it waited for land to become available.

Mr Fitzgerald said it would be at least 2013 before the facility would be operational and the company was already receiving a flood of phone calls, from 50 to 100 potential residents.

“We can’t go and put a whole lot of retirees in a paddock,” he said.

Despite the delay, Mr Fitzgerald said he was “in it for the long haul” and agreed with Mr Hanson the delay was a “blessing in disguise”, fitting with a lull in the real estate market.

“We’ve been stagnant for a period when nothing was happening in any event,” Mr Hanson said.

“I think that every negative has a positive.”

He said Mr Saraceni’s recent discussions with Perth-based Perron Group had not resulted in him selling his share of the Vasse development.

Saracen Properties did not respond to calls from the Times.