An iconic high-rise in Durban is at the centre of a legal battle between two property developers, reports Sunday Times Daily. At the heart of the matter is the R205m sale of the 30-storey block on Dr Pixley Ka Seme Road, formerly 320 West Street.

Intrepid Heights, part of urban regeneration group Urban Lime, says it cancelled the sale of the building to property group Centura on 5 May because it was in breach of the sale agreement after missing deadlines to provide bank guarantees.

But Centura’s legal team claims the brakes were put on the deal, including a hold on bank guarantees, after it heard that Intrepid Heights was facing liquidation by a creditor, which Intrepid Heights denies.

In an application to the KZN High Court in April to, among other things, stop the cancellation of the sale agreement, Centura CEO Vithianandhan Reddy said his company had already made payments of R67m, including R12m in interest, to Intrepid Heights.

He alleged Intrepid Heights had failed to maintain the building and denied it access to the building ‘at a critical time’.

Centura was granted an interim order, allowing its contractors to continue refurbishing three floors of the building. Centura’s legal adviser Chris Gounden said due to Covid and other issues, there was a delay in furnishing the guarantees timeously.

Gounden said the parties that were going to issue the guarantees for the balance of the purchase price did their due diligence and picked up that Intrepid was facing liquidation.

Sean Dayton, Intrepid’s legal representative, said the transfer of 320 Pixley was to have taken place in February 2021, but in November 2020, two months after signing the sale agreement, Centura informed them it was unable to put up bank guarantees and asked for an extension of the deadline.

Full Sunday Times Daily report