Property

Monaco developer forced out by levy

Developers are angry about a new city council levy, which has prompted Mike Gepp to leave town after it added an unexpected $350,000 to his latest Monaco development.

Wednesday, August 18th 2004

The levy, which took effect on July 1, can also add thousands of extra dollars to the cost of building a house.

Mr Gepp said the levy was the last straw for him in a continual battle with the council to get his developments approved.

He is leaving for Fiji on Saturday but said he would be flying back and forth to see the $50 million Monaco Village development through.

Monaco Village, across the road from The Honest Lawyer Country Pub which Mr Gepp originally built and owned, is being built in stages and sold off. The 20 studio rooms in the hotel part of the village and 28 of the 100 villas have been sold, Mr Gepp said. The development was going well and there were no financial problems behind the move.

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