Former Surfers Paradise HQ of collapsed builder Pivotal Homes set to sell for a fortune, but creditors won’t share payout

The former headquarters of a failed Gold Coast builder is set to be snapped up for a fortune – but creditors owed millions won’t see a cent of it. CREDITORS LISTED

The former Surfers Paradise headquarters of failed Gold Coast builder Pivotal Homes is set to sell for a fortune – but Pivotal creditors owed more than $6 million won’t see a cent of it.

The three vacant offices, on level five of 33 Elkhorn Ave, have gone to market via an auction to be held in September.

The vacant offices, which together take up 274sq m of the building, are owned by a company named V24, and are in a prime location with river and skyline views. They hit the market at a time when demand for office space is at record highs and commercial rents are increasing.

Other tenants and owners in the Elkhorn Ave high-rise include global entertainment powerhouse Cross Promotions, acclaimed architects Jared Poole Design and lawyers Cronin Miller Litigation.

Commercial property sources say the Pivotal offices could achieve a price above $1.2m at auction.

Company records show Pivotal director Michael Irwin, 61, was sole director and ultimate shareholder of office owner V24 until August 5, when Courtney Irwin, 34, was appointed co-director and secretary.

Its shares were transferred to another company solely owned and directed by Ms Irwin on the same day.

V24 is also the registered owner of Mr Irwin’s Isle of Capri home, which was purchased for $920,000 in 2015.

Questions sent to Mr Irwin were answered by his lawyer Derek Cronin, who said in a statement the office was privately owned.

The statement denied the property’s ownership had changed, despite the shifting shareholdings of its holding companies.

“The office in question has never been owned by Pivotal Homes and was a private asset,” the statement said.

Pivotal Homes Managing director Michael Irwin (right) and Lawyer Derek Cronin announcing the demise of Pivotal at a media briefing. Picture: Richard Gosling

“There has been no change of ownership of the property, only a change in directorship.

“Our client has taken great care to ensure that all assets owned by the company remained at the time the company went into liquidation to ensure there were funds in place to repay creditors.”

Pivotal Homes collapsed in May leaving debts to subcontractors and suppliers of more than $6m.

Liquidator Chris Cook of Worrell’s this week told creditors they were likely to recoup about 15c for every dollar owed.

At the time of the collapse, Mr Irwin savaged “gouging” tradies, who he said were taking advantage of rising supply costs to bump up their prices.

“We are absolutely devastated for our 16 Pivotal Homes employees and assure all creditors, contractors and subcontractors have been paid in full,” he said at the time.

“All purchasers are in a net gain position, meaning the work they have paid for has been completed. In fact, they have had more work completed on their homes than they have paid for.”

Homeowners are among the creditors listed by liquidators.

Among the contributors cited for the collapse was a ransomware attack, which destroyed many of the company’s important financial records shortly before it went into liquidation.

It’s also been revealed the company did $52m of work while it was only licensed for $30m.

Mr Irwin previously claimed Pivotal was solvent at the time of its collapse, a claim the liquidator is still investigating.

The liquidator’s report said it was yet to investigate what personal assets were held by the director to ascertain whether he could repay the debts himself if required.

Directors can be held personally liable if a company is found to have been trading insolvent and if the director can be reasonably expected to have had knowledge of it.

The front door of the HQ on the day the Pivotal collapse was revealed.

Mr Cronin said Mr Irwin was “still left with significant personal exposure as a result of the liquidation of the company”.

“My client strenuously rejects any suggestion that there has been any effort to avoid payment to creditors.”

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