The future of a building which was set to change the skyline in Canberra's south is in doubt, as administrators sort through the complex finances of its financial backers.
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Gold Coast's LM Investment Management went into voluntary administration in March and administrators are considering the future of the yet-to-be-built, 12-storey Aalto apartment complex at 7 Irving St in Phillip.
Records held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission reveal Queensland financier Peter Drake, the founder and co-director of LM, is listed as the director, secretary and sole shareholder of Aalto Apartments Pty Ltd.
Aalto Apartments has a registered first mortgage with one of LM's funds, LM First Mortgage Income Fund, which was closed when the administrators were appointed and is quarantined to protect its assets.
In a meeting on the Gold Coast with LM creditors at the start of April, a partner at appointed administrator FTI Consulting said LM's Managed Performance fund had lent Aalto Apartments $1.7 million, among several other ''related party loans''.
The loans included $17 million to Mr Drake and $249 million to the Maddison Estate development on the Gold Coast.
Mr Drake is also sole director of Maddison Estate Pty Ltd.
''We are currently reviewing the accuracy of the impairment of each commercial loan, the costs to complete the developments, the feasibility of the individual projects and the return to investors,'' administrator John Park said.
FTI Consulting has until July 25 to report back to creditors on its investigations into LM and what action it recommends.
A spokeswoman for LM Investment Management Ltd referred all inquiries to the administrators. According to its planning approval, granted on 20 March, 2012, the Aalto complex was to feature 278 apartments split between two buildings.
Designed by Canberra architect Bruce Townsend, the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments were advertised in January 2012 for between $395,900 and $510,000. Building A was to be 12 storeys and contain 208 apartments and a childcare centre, while building B would be nine storeys with 70 apartments and two levels of basement car parks.
LJ Hooker Canberra agent Andrew Ligdopoulos said he had sold a number of apartments in the complex off the plan with a standard 5 per cent up-front payment and the real estate agents had not been told to stop selling the apartments.
