THE company which owns the properties involved in the stalled Tribeca development scheme in Belfast saw its debts soar to £91 million last year, new accounts show.
Project Goat Limited is the company vehicle used by Castlebrooke Investments and its owner Neil Young for the proposed regeneration scheme in North Street and Donegall Street.
Castlebrooke acquired the largely derelict property portfolio in 2016 and later announced plans for a £500m regeneration development.
It’s approaching three years since it secured outline planning approval for the Tribeca scheme, but there has been little or no progress since.
Last year The Irish News reported how a fallout over the public ownership of Writers’ Square was at the centre of a dispute between Castlebrooke and the Department for Communities.
It’s understood Castlebrooke wants to buy the publicly owned space opposite St Anne’s Cathedral, and is holding off progressing any work until the situation is resolved.
Last year, Project Goat took out a new mortgage secured against properties in both North Street and Donegall Street. It was the third loan granted to the company since 2015.
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Accounts published by Companies House show Project Goat owed £39 million in loans at the end of June 2022.
But the interest accrued by its borrowing soared last year to £52.2m, putting its total debt at £91.2m for the year ending June 2022.
The accounts show the interest increased by £14.6m in the 12 months from June 2021, rising by around £1.2m per month.
The accounts value of assets of Project Goat Limited at £34.9m, putting its net liabilities at £56.3m.
During the latest reporting period covered by the accounts, Project Goat Limited changed its registered address from Mayfair in London to an accountancy firm in Sheffield.
It comes as Belfast City Council passed a motion calling on Castlebrooke Investments to answer questions over the lack of progress in the Tribeca scheme.
The motion from Green Party councillor Áine Groogan, passed at the council’s standards and business committee last week, called for “Project Goat Limited, Castlebrooke Investments and/or any of their subsidiaries or related companies, who have an interest in or are responsible for the development of this site, come before a future meeting of this council or suitable committee at the earliest possible opportunity, to present on their plans and work to date on developing the area, and to answer questions from members of this council”.
When contacted by The Irish News, a spokesperson for Castlebrooke said the developer had not yet received any official communication from the council, and did not wish to comment at this stage.
According to Companies House, the ownership of Project Goat Limited is divided between Castlebrooke owner Neil Young and London private equity firm Revcap Advisers, which has provided finance for the project via funds it manages.
Revcap’s founding partners include Andrew Pettit, who is co-owner of Grimsby Town Football Club.
Mr Pettit is among the Revcap partners listed as directors of Project Goat Limited.
Properties inside the Tribeca site were used as security for at least two of the loans.
Previously led by the Department for Social Development (now Department for Communities), the largely derelict 10-acre Tribeca site has gone through a number of incarnations over the past two decades.
Tribeca’s proposal, which pre-dates the Covid-19 pandemic, largely comprises a mix of offices, retail and residential development.
