A property company behind the conversion of a former city centre cinema is about to be dissolved owing £40m to creditors.
Pinnacle Student Developments Ltd (PSDL) announced ambitious plans to transform the site of the former Odeon Cinema on London Road into student accommodation. But the 488 bed scheme marketed as the Paramount stalled in 2015 after the developers fell out with builders PHD1 Construction.
PSDL is now about to be dissolved by a liquidators Quantuma Advisory Ltd. Their latest report has revealed that PSDL owes tens of millions of pounds to creditors.
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The report reveals that the company owes £25,066,757.55 to HMRC and £13,505,055.74 to Pinnacle Student Buyers, a company which represents investors in the property scheme.
However a previous report revealed that administrators paid £5,058,232.90 to the buyers in July 2019 following the sale of the building. This means the investors are now owed around £8,446,823.
The most recent report by liquidators also reveals that PSDL owes £4,178,428 to MVG Holdings Limited. In total the failed property company owes £40,006,538 to creditors.
The report, published yesterday, explains that the liquidators have been unable to make any payments to creditors who are owed money.
The report reads: "No payments have been made to the secured creditors. After taking into account the costs of the liquidation the company's net property was nil, such that there was no prescribed part to distribute to unsecured creditors."
The report also states that the company, formed in 2013, is now set to dissolved. It reads: "The company will subsequently be dissolved automatically (cease to exist) three months after the delivery of the final account."
The Paramount scheme was originally described as a “striking piece of architecture” when it was being actively marketed to Chinese investors in 2013.
The prices were £54,995 for pods – student rooms with a communal area – and £74,995 for studios. And, according to the Liverpool Post in July 2013, investors were being offered “an assured yield of 9% for five years”.
In 2016 Pinnacle removed builders PHD1 Construction from the site over 'performance issues'. Pinnacle later said the issues surrounding PHD1 led to critical problems at the Paramount site. The Liverpool-based Elliot Group bought the Paramount site in 2019.
Elliot Lawless, who founded the company, said he planned to spend around £8m on completing the city centre scheme near Lime Street station.
