The Manderley by Toronto-based Nova Ridge Development Partners Inc. has been placed under receivership, according to filings in Ontario Superior Court, but what makes the case abnormal — although it is becoming more common — is that construction on the project has been substantially completed.
Located at 1478-1496 Kingston Road in the Birch Cliff neighbourhood of Toronto, at the intersection with Manderley Drive, two blocks away from The Toronto Hunt Club, The Manderley is an 11-storey mixed-use development with 194 condo units and two ground-level retail units.
The project website describes it as a “boutique” condo project with “the pulse of the city” and the “tranquility of the lake,” as the shores of Lake Ontario are located about one kilometre away.
According to court documents, construction was substantially completed on April 28, 2026, with the certificate of substantial completion published on May 5, 2026.
Nova Ridge beneficially owns the project through Nova Ridge (Manderley) Limited Partnership and Nova Ridge (Manderley) GP Corp.
The Receivership
For the project, Nova Ridge secured a non-revolving term construction loan with a principal amount of up to $79,916,000 and a non-revolving letter of credit facility of up to $2,500,000 from Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) — which has branches in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver — and Montreal-based Laurentian Bank of Canada, with UOB acting as the agent.
Individually, UOB also provided Nova Ridge with a non-revolving term mezzanine loan with a principal amount of up to $9,050,000.
According to UOB, the construction loan matured on January 31, 2026 and the mezzanine loan then matured on February 28, with Nova Ridge failing to repay both. On February 1, the two sides entered into a forbearance agreement to delay enforcement for both loans, but the developer failed to make any interest payments as required under the forbearance agreement.
On April 21, the lenders issued formal demands for payment. As of June 8, the lenders are owed $21,123,337.16 under the construction loan and UOB is owed $8,913,610.72 under the mezzanine loan, meaning Nova Ridge has a total of $30,036,947.9 owing on the project, with interest continuing to accrue on both loans.
“Over the past several months, the Debtors have increasingly stopped paying their contractors and suppliers in the ordinary course,” said UOB in its receivership application, which was granted by the court on June 23. “As a result, liens have begun to be registered by unpaid trades and suppliers against the Real Property, in breach of the Loan Agreements and the Debenture.”
According to UOB, a financial advisor also informed them in April that Nova Ridge had deposited $3.6 million in project funds into accounts at TD Bank, when all project funds are required to be held in a UOB account. Nova Ridge then paid approximately $32,000 from the TD account to a subcontractor in order to close the sale for one of the retail units, without notifying UOB. The remaining amounts in the TD account have since been transferred back to the UOB account.
What Happens Next
According to the court-appointed Receiver, while the two retail units have both been sold and the transactions have been completed, there remains 70 condos, 34 parking spots, 28 lockers, and 23 combined parking spots and lockers that are unsold, including 47 condos where the purchaser failed to close.
The remaining inventory will now go through a court-ordered sales process led by Milbourne Group, which the Receiver noted was the sales agent retained by Nova Ridge to sell the units prior to the receivership.
The Receiver, the lenders, and Milbourne have developed a sales plan that includes target prices. If a unit is sold within the target price, the transaction will not require further approval from the lender and court. The sales plan also includes the possibility of selling units in bulk, with bulk sales of five or more units with an aggregate price over $2 million requiring court approval.
From a project perspective, completing sales will also allow the liens against the project to be dealt with. According to court documents, 11 liens for a total of $11,357,528 have been registered.
The Receiver says that eight to 10 months will be needed to complete the sales process.
