Ian Chester splashed out $1.5m on a new home just prior to liquidating his property companies

The collapse of a Queensland property group is much worse than originally feared, with liquidators called in to a partly-completed Brisbane development project this week.

Developer Ian Chester on Sovereign Island at the Gold Coast. Picture: Jerad Williams

He describes himself as “an astute property investor and investment manager’’ who has overseen more than $300 million in successful projects across south east Queensland.

Ian Chester’s boast would seem to be borne out by the fact that he and his wife just splashed out nearly $1.47m in April for a flash new home in Surfers Paradise.

Yet, less than three months after snaring that luxury dwelling, Chester tipped his solely-controlled Vested Property Group Pty Ltd and 11 other related entities into liquidation.

A highly-controversial scheme to build the first apartments on mansion-filled Sovereign Islands was among the casualties. But City Beat has learned it’s much wider than that.

About 100 investors committed nearly $5.2m to five of the now-failed companies, each of which had planned to build unit projects.

Ian Chester

Now a group of 18 punters in a sixth Chester company, Blakeney Street Investors Pty Ltd, fear their ill-fated townhouse project in Brisbane has gone the same way. They appointed a liquidator this week and don’t expect to recover a cent.

These investors collectively put $1.35m into the venture in 2016 after it was promoted by two Gold Coast property spruikers.

Chester’s now-defunct Vested Capital Pty Ltd was supposed to commit another $1.35m to the development before it won council approval in 2018 but the money never came through.

Work on the partly-completed project at Highgate Hill, known as Treehaus, ceased earlier this year. Financier Trilogy Funds Management, which is a secured creditor owed $7.6m, has taken control of the site and hopes to appoint a new builder soon to finish the job.

Trilogy is the biggest single creditor of the developer, Mark Alford, who last month tipped his firm Spraybuilt Investments (1) Pty Ltd into liquidation with nearly $10m in debts. Among the unsecured parties is Blakeney Street Investors, which is owed more than $1m.

Despite Spraybuilt running off the rails, Alford registered new entity Carmark Projects Pty Ltd, in February. He is the sole director of the firm, which has a website showing Treehaus and other failed Chester developments among its current projects.

In case this wasn’t enough, the financial license for the Blakeney Street scheme was held by a now-defunct firm controlled by John Rivett, a lawyer and former Senate candidate who declared personal bankruptcy in 2019.

Rivett, who defended disgraced former minister Gordon Nuttall before he was convicted of corruption in 2010, still works as a “solicitor advocate’’ for Noosaville-based Coast to Coast Legal.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority awarded one of the Blakeney Street investors nearly $120,000 last year from Rivett’s collapsed firm, Ausfirst Compliance Partners Pty Ltd.

But his insurance company refused to pay out the money because the policy had lapsed in 2018 when Rivett stopped paying the premiums.

Meanwhile, ASIC has interviewed a number of stakeholders in the Vested debacle but, understandably, won’t discuss their intentions. No action has been taken against any individuals to date.

One of the Blakeney Street promoters, Income2Wealth boss Paul Wilson, who also invested in the scheme, said he reported Chester to ASIC in 2018 but could not further discuss the issue.

Another promoter, Geoff Hardy, now with RPM Queensland, declined to comment.

Chester could not be contacted, while Alford and Rivett did not return calls this week.

HURDLE CLEARED FOR DIGITAL BANK

Two former Suncorp operatives have just cleared a major hurdle in the effort to build their entirely digital bank.

Simon Beitz and Craig Fenwick, who co-founded Brisbane-based Alex Bank in 2018, won a restricted banking license this month from the prudential regulator.

It’s a key stepping stone on the way to securing a full license next year for the bank, which will then be able to accept deposits.

Until then, it has already approved more than $8m in personal loans and won a swag of industry awards.

Simon Beitz, co-founder and CEO of Alex Bank,

Consumers can access loans between $2000 and $30,000 for periods ranging from six months to five years.

But, unlike traditional lenders, there are no branches, paperwork, ongoing fees or penalties for early repayment.

Investors clearly see the upside. They have poured in more than $35m to the venture and the first profits are expected in 2023.

The marketplace for these so-called “neobanks’’ has become a bit crowded, with rivals including the likes of Volt, Up and 86 400.

There are already casualties. One former competitor, Xinja, got out of the banking game last year.

Beitz and Fenwick, who each spent 11 years at Suncorp, now aim to secure about three per cent of the consumer lending market in Australia and hope to have a $50m loan book by the end of the year.

“We’re building Alex from the ground up, based on smart banking fundamentals and a focus on lending to high quality banking customers,” Beitz said.

“By solving Australians’ day-to-day credit needs, we’re helping customers get more of what they want in their life and creating a bank based on what people have told us is important: fast, simple, fair and human banking products and services.”

CALLING IT QUITS

A senior player in the Brisbane commercial property game has called it quits after nearly 40 years in the industry.

McGees Property director Greg Clarke told his troops this week that he was stepping down to give the next generation a shot at the opportunities he had.

Greg Clarke, former director of McGees Property.

Clarke, who started at the 132-year-old firm as a valuation manager in 1983, expects to celebrate with staff and family over a few coldies at the Breakfast Creek Hotel on Friday night.

But he won’t be entirely exiting the property sector. Clarke expect to do a bit of consulting for McGees, as well as stay on as a director of Exceed Capital, a property funds manager with about $100m in assets.