Developer Antoine Bechara owns three properties next to new $40m Burwood tower development
A rival developer owns three properties next to a new $40 million tower development in Burwood that he is trying to stop.
NSW
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A rival developer owns three properties next to a new $40 million tower development in Burwood that he is trying to stop.
Colourful developer Antoine Bechara's companies own the three red brick homes adjacent to the block of land he covets which is being developed into a ritzy 25-storey tower by rival builders Maroun and Mark Taouk.
The Land and Environment Court granted Mr Bechara, through his company Omaya Investments, an adjournment to prepare his case that the Taouk’s development is illegal and does not have planning approval.
The case was adjourned after Mr Bechara sacked his third set of lawyers on Friday, five days into a seven day hearing, the court heard.
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However work on the high-rise will go ahead again after Justice Sandra Duggan lifted the injunction stopping the building which had been granted last month after Land and Environment Court Justice Timothy Moore agreed there was a number of "serious issues to be tried".
Records show that Omaya Investments transferred the three George St properties from Omaya Investments to another of Mr Bechara’s companies, BSM Holdings, on September 10.
The beneficial ownership of the properties remains the same and the transfers were planned from at least May this year, and prior to the current litigation, when Mr Bechara’s family trust appointed BSM Holdings as its new corporate trustee.
Omaya paid $1,250,000 each for numbers 8 and 12 George St in 2013 and $780,000 for number 10 in 2004.
The homes are close to Burwood Railway Station and ripe for redevelopment.
Counsel Craig Leggett SC, for the Taouk’s companies, Dean Street Holdings Pty Ltd and TQM Design and Construct Pty Ltd, said they were suffering financially and their reputation had been damaged as the case continues but the judge said that an adjournment of three weeks was not “overwhelming”.
Mr Bechara, 57, is a prolific builder having developed Strathfield's lucrative Golden Triangle and in 2010 he lost a defamation case he brought against a man who made a complaint about him to police.
It is the second high-profile court case where Mr Bechara has parted company with three sets of lawyers. The previous time was in 2017 just before the Land and Environment dismissed his company’s challenges to statutory valuations concerning two inner west properties.
Omaya has claimed that Dean Street Holdings Pty Ltd, owned by Mark Taouk, and TQM, owned by Maroun Taouk, “carried out development … without consent, in that the first development consent had lapsed” on the main building site in Marmaduke St.
Omaya has also claimed that TQM Design & Construct Pty Ltd built a tower crane base at George St, Burwood, directly behind the site, including installing two 12m-deep piers and a concrete crane base, without permission. The case is being defended.
Justice Moore last month said he had written to the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue over a potential $700,000 in unpaid stamp duty because of conflicting evidence over what Dean Street Holdings paid for the Burwood land. The judge also referred certifier Maurice Freixas to the Building Professionals Board.
The case was adjourned to October 30.