Receivers appointed to sell off properties owned by Adelaide ‘carpark king’ Damian Lester

Receivers have been appointed to take charge of a major sell-off of properties owned by prominent businessman Damian Lester. See what’s being put on the market.

Receivers have been appointed to take charge of a major sell-off of properties owned by Adelaide “carpark king” Damian Lester.

Carparks and development sites in the CBD and North Adelaide, a strip of shops in Goodwood and a heritage woolstore in Port Adelaide are among 10 properties being sold off individually by Savills, Knight Frank and CBRE.

Mr Lester described it as a “restructuring” of his portfolio, but ASIC records reveal Sydney-based insolvency firm Wexted Advisors was appointed receiver of several of Mr Lester’s property-holding companies on January 30.

“I’m just doing some restructuring, everything’s fine,” Mr Lester said when asked about the circumstances that led to the property sales.

The heritage woolstore on Crozier St, Port Adelaide is one of the properties owned by Damian Lester, inset, that have been put on the market. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

According to ASIC records, a group of non-bank alternative lenders appointed Wexted’s Andrew McCabe and Joseph Hayes as receivers of companies including Lester Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Park Fast (Aust) Pty Ltd and White Rhinoceros Pty Ltd.

Properties being sold by the receivers include a 15,480sq m woolstore site on Crozier St in Port Adelaide, a street-level carpark opposite The Lion Hotel on Jerningham St in North Adelaide and development sites on Angas, Flinders and Carrington streets in the CBD.

Damian Lester pictured in 2003. The SA businessman now spends much of his time on the Gold Coast.

Mr Lester’s development site on North Tce, immediately to the east of the Newmarket Hotel where a consortium of investors has been planning a multimillion-dollar office development, is not part of the property sell-off and the corporate entity that owns that site is not in receivership.

The North Tce site had been shortlisted as a potential location for a new 14,000sq m laboratory for SA Pathology, but SA Pathology’s move was put on hold last year when the new Labor government committed to a major review of the city’s future hospital and health infrastructure needs.

A development site on Flinders St being sold off by receivers. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

The strip of shops on Goodwood Rd in Goodwood. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

Mr Lester, a former lord mayoral candidate, has a colourful history in Adelaide and now spends most of his time on the Gold Coast.

In 2013 he unveiled ambitious plans for a $150m office and hotel development on his North Tce site but it failed to get off the ground.

In 2009, his carpark companies were found guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct for mimicking council fines and were banned from issuing fines for five years.

Mr McCabe and agents from Savills, Knight Frank and CBRE all declined to comment.