Yes...I know quite a lot, (more than I want to know but unfortunately I have too as a Trustee), about how extraordinarily difficult that can be. Residential development consenting on volcanic cones is best described as an exceptionally challenging process. Makes Boulcott street for another company look like short walk in in the park on a warm spring day. Highlights a key difference between the capabilities of the respective experts employed by the two companies and is something I haven't really thought a lot about until quite recently.
Mrs B and I did have a wee bit of a chat speculating about the pricing of the best apartments and what price they might command. Hard to put a figure on it...but...just for fun lets take a wild guess. OCA are reported to be spending $130m..lets allow for a contingency, (I know they would have already allowed for contingency's in the $130m figure) and suggest its $140m so if their development margin is 30% that suggests gross sale proceeds of ~$200m.
76 apartments and 31 care suites. Lets assume a care suite is on average about half the size and cost of an apartment so that suggests an average of approx $2.2m per apartment = $167m and $1.1m per care suite = $34m. Those numbers on an average basis for that area appear quite commercially feasible to me and suggests the premium north facing apartments with the most commanding views will be in the mid-late $3m range.
What's very cool is this whole development from beginning to end is effectively being financed at just 2.30% fixed for 7 years.