Luxury Sydney apartment project in tatters after corporate high flyer Rod Price goes bankrupt

The Elizabeth, a luxury Sydney apartment project overlooking Sydney’s Hyde Park, is up for sale after the former corporate high flyer that bought the tower’s $20.1 million penthouse went bankrupt.

Rod Price, the former chairman of John Fairfax Holdings and corporate raiding vehicle Brierly Invsetments, filed for bankruptcy late last week with debts of $35 million.

He shot to prominence in December last year when it emerged he had agreed to pay $20.1 million for the penthouse at The Elizabeth, one of three proposed towers near Hyde Park.

But according to a report in the Australian Financial Review, Price paid just $100 of the $2 million deposit for the penthouse.

Last month, the co-owner of The Elizabeth project, Andrew Richardson, began pursuing Price for the other $1,999,990.

But Price pre-empted Richardson’s threats of bankruptcy by filing himself. His major creditors include British financial services group Abbey Financial Services (owed $23.3 million) and Bank of Scotland.

Price was formerly a shareholder in agribusiness group Four Arrows. The company, which is managed by Price’s son Brandon Price, is in the process of selling a portfolio of properties around Wagga Wagga.

The Elizabeth development has now been put on the market by Richardson’s co-owner, Brookfield Multiplex.