A property high-flyer who developed and eventually sold Australia's tallest tower, the Australia 108 building, was until recently the chairman and director of collapsed home builder Watersun Homes.
Multimillionaire developer Benni Aroni was a long-term director and co-founder of WSH Group Pty Ltd, the homebuilding company behind Watersun Homes, which was placed in voluntary administration Tuesday with up to 300 homeowners affected and 90 jobs lost.
![Australia 108 will be the southern hemisphere's tallest tower when complete.](/web/20170331140610im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/1/p/8/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gup4gs.png/1488547722148.jpg)
Mr Aroni is well known in property circles for leading a consortium that developed and then sold the Australia 108 skyscraper site to Singapore's Aspial Corporation for $42.3 million.
He was also the developer of another notable Melbourne high-rise – Eureka Tower in Southbank.
![Watersun's demise has left homeowners such as Matt Filmer and Ebony Murner with unfinished houses.](/web/20170331140610im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/o/c/6/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gup4gs.png/1488547722148.jpg)
Australia 108, currently under construction, will be the southern hemisphere's tallest tower when complete and boasts 1105 apartments – one of which, a 750-square-metre penthouse, sold for a record breaking $25 million.
Watersun's demise has left hundreds of new homeowners with unfinished houses.
One young couple in their 30s who are expecting their first child, Ebony Murner and Matthew Filmer, told Fairfax Media they were pressured to sign contracts by Watersun and had already paid all the building costs, apart from $1500, on their still-unfinished and fault-riddled home.
They, and many others, face mounting financial stress after Watersun, which was working on about 300 homes in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, was placed in administration with insufficient funds to continue trading.
Administrators Neil Mclean and Mathew Gollant of Rodgers Reidy Melbourne have been appointed to sell its assets.
Watersun's Queensland and NSW operations were not affected by the decision to put the Victorian operations in administration.
Mr Aroni was a director of several Watersun companies, but resigned his responsibilities over two years beginning with WSH Group in August 2015.
When contacted by BusinessDay, Mr Aroni said it would be "totally inappropriate" to speak about Watersun.
"I have no idea about any of the events. There's a lot of sad people suffering and I'm not going to make it any worse or better," Mr Aroni said.
The high-flying businessman's long involvement with Watersun ended late last year. Co-founder Gary Caulfield remains a director.
Several Watersun businesses, including one with construction projects in Maidstone and Blackburn, appear to be trading as normal.
Calls to the Watersun group were not returned and the company's website remains offline.
Another company called Watersun Homes (Aust) Pty Ltd, established three months ago, shares the same principal place of business address in Melbourne's Southbank as WSH Group Pty Ltd.
Watersun Homes (Aust) is currently being struck off by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
Neither Mr Aroni or Mr Caulfield are directors of Watersun Homes (Aust) or another business – established at the same time with the same address – called Watersun Homes Australia Pty Ltd that is still operational.
The administration of Watersun comes at a time when Australia's property market is running hot, with strong demand for new homes particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.
Land markets across the eastern seaboard have reached new highs.
Recent figures show the median dollar value per square metre of vacant land has shot up to $927 in Sydney, 32 per cent higher than in the next most expensive city, Perth, where it was $701.
The national land lot price rose by 3.3 per cent during the September 2016 quarter to a record high of $243,585, HIA senior economist, Shane Garrett said.