Marketer offers Hudson, Brisbane apartments at up to 39 percent discount, triggers dispute

Marketer offers Hudson, Brisbane apartments at up to 39 percent discount, triggers dispute
Staff ReporterDecember 7, 2020

A marketer has offered discounts of up to 39 percent for units in a newly finished residential development in Brisbane, but the developer and its equity partner say the company doesn’t have the authorisation. 

David Carter of Landmark Asset Services emailed clients this week offering huge discounts in The Hudson, according to Fairfax Media.

Prices for two-bedroom apartments were marked down from $805,000 to $490,000, while three-bedroom penthouses were priced at $960,000, down from $1.2 million, the email said.  

"The funder has taken the project off the developer and has given us four weeks to sell the remaining 50 or so apartments," Carter wrote in the email, which included a flyer offering "Sizzling Hot Deals”.

"I have never sent an email like this to friends and family but this is a damn good opportunity for anyone if they are looking for an investment and a fire sale price,”  it went on.

But developer Twin Ocean Corporation and its joint equity partner Barwon Investment Partners had a different take, saying Landmark had no authority to sell the units.  

"The Landmark guys aren't appointed by the project as our agent," Barwon partner Peter Conners was cited as saying by The Australian Financial Review. "They're going off on their own little adventure there. What they've said is pretty damaging stuff."

Further, the $96 million project was in no financial trouble as suggested in Carter’s email, said Connors.

"The senior debt's been paid off," he said. "The project is complete. We're in the process of selling off the remaining stock."

Conners said his consortium had previously talked to Landmark about the project but had not given it a mandate or agency agreement for outstanding stock in the 164-apartment project near Albion Train Station, which was completed in December.

"I've heard of agents being idiotic," he said. "They do idiotic things all the time. But not in this particular fashion."

He said they were considering taking legal action against the company.

Carter couldn’t be reached for comment, the AFR said.

Twin Ocean director Tim Jones said the consortium was planning to discount the remaining Hudson apartments in a campaign next week.

"We've got between 40 to 45 units to sell," he said. "We want to start specific campaigns over various stock to price point it to make sure we get sales."

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