Faithful readers will know that the impetus leading to the inception of alexismcbride.com was the desire to get even with those in London who had harmed me. Foremost was Julie Wheelwright’s Creative Non Fiction programme but in second place was Dolphin Square, After months of inefficient operation that affected my tenancy they then l wrongfully evicted said tenancy in March of 2017, which forced me to go homeward bound. Initially I did have a grand time blasting the establishment but,it backfired once. I made reservations to stay at Dolphin House, the hotel in Dolphin ,in December of 2017 through Expedia. The Dolphin Square staff refused to honour the reservation, so there I was jet lagged with no hotel. But, for a small fortune, Expedia found me a room at Pestana Chelsea Square, a wondrous small hotel nearby with a great spa and wonderful staff. After three days in a large room a smaller room was found, the amount paid diminished and it ended up being less expensive than the tawdry rooms at Dolphin Square. The Pestana Chelsea Bridge became my home away from home when in London and I get a special rate. In the end it worked out brilliantly, yet again Alexis became the Phoenix Rising From the Ashes. .
Dolphin Square continues its shenanigans however, this also chronicled on this blog. The bigwigs applied for a construction permit that would ruin, not only the structure of the building, but the small businesses that have thrived along a corridor in one of the buildings. There is a cleaners, a green grocer, a small restaurant, a travel agent, a ‘convenience’ store and a market owned and run by my dear friend’s brother. No matter, said the inefficient and terrible management, we are going to get rid of them and all the historical memories and edifices. The application was made and most people were facing gloom and doom, not only the shop keepers but also the long term residents and actually anyone who lived there. But forces those up against them and during my last visit to London in December of 2018 I met with some of them, addressing the issues in my blog. Type Dolphin Square into the search engine and you will see all. But other than bringing some of the facts to light and linking to the rebel’s website, there was nothing I could do so I did have to listen to Uncle Dave’s words.
Uncle Dave: Alexis, stop fighting! Go the the sidelines and watch! Those people that harmed you will do themselves in!
Me: But Uncle Dave, it is so hard for me to do ! I have been a fighter all my life and a lawyer.
But, believe this or not, I do heed his words. I am amazed, and somewhat horrified, to see what happens to people and institutions that have wronged me. What has happened to Dolphin Square is nothing short of amazing. You are about to read about it here. I am on a special list of people who receive notifications of the Planning Process and other materials. This is what surfaced this week and here is the link. https://tinyurl.com/savedolphinsquare.
The news is mind boggling. In several words, there is no money to fund nothing.
21 MAY 2019 —
Accounts for the company, Dolphin Square Limited which manages the property, reveal accrued losses of £47 million since it was formed in 2006.
The company, formerly called Mantilla Limited, is registered in Jersey and is controlled by the US property fund manager, Westbrook. It has to file accounts at UK Companies House because its operations are principally in the UK.
For the year ended 31st December 2017, accounts show that the company made a loss for the year of £2,414,740 compared with a loss of £13,586,980 in 2016.
The directors of the company are named as Ernesto Diego Rico, Kashif Zaid Sheikh and Cindy Woon, who are all principals of Westbrook based in New York. The UK principals of Westbrook, Mark Donnor and David Collard, are not directors of the company.
The accounts state that the company is exposed to risks associated with “the hotel and serviced apartments” industry despite the current planning application not mentioning any hotel use.
According to the accounts, the freeholder of the property, The Dolphin Square Estate Limited, received rent of £6,408,800 from Dolphin Square Limited under an operating lease which was presumably for the use of Rodney House which operates as the Dolphin House hotel.
The accounts also show that Dolphin Square Limited received £146,800 from The Dolphin Square Estate Limited, also Jersey-based, as a management fee. It is likely that this fee relates to collection of rents for the remainder of Dolphin Square which based on a normal 10% fee assumes total rents for the rest of the building of £14,680,000. The total turnover was £11,642,502 which was principally income from Rodney House.
The accounts reveal that Dolphin Square Limited has 81 employees with an annual wage, social costs and pensions bill of £2,416,648. The employees number 31 for lettings, 24 for sports club and spa, 18 for bar and grill, and 8 for administration. In a document entitled Dolphin Square: The Next 100 years in support of the planning application, Westbrook claim to have more than 180 employees on site.
The accounts show a current deficit on shareholders’ funds of £17,214,287 compared with £14,799,547 the previous year and have been heavily qualified as a going concern by the company’s auditors, the London firm of Cohen Arnold.
Cohen Arnold say in a note to the accounts that the company is dependent on the support of the holders of the beneficial interest in the company’s share capital, WB Dolphin Square LLC “who have provided the company with an undertaking that for at least 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements, they will not seek repayment of the amounts currently made available to the company.”
WB Dolphin Square LLC is a company registered in the US state of Delaware which offers easy company formation facilities with tax-free status. No filings have been made for this company since 2006. An article in The Economist magazine in February, 2013, jocularly described Delaware companies as “Dollars and Euros laundered and washed at reasonable expense.”
PLEASE CONTINUE TO CIRCULATE OUR PETITION ON SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM.
ALSO PLEASE VISIT THE PLANNING PORTAL TO REGISTER YOUR OPPOSITION TO THESE PLANS. THE ADDRESS IS:- https://tinyurl.com/savedolphinsquare
Well, Oops, the chickens have come home to roost. Things are not looking very good for Dolphin Square – they have been exposed as liars, cheats and horrifically financially irresponsible. I take credit for none of this, but do admit that I was in sheer ecstasy when this email of Dolphin Square gloom and doom appeared in my email box. I cannot wait to return to London and celebrate this news with my wonderful friends. It is another example of good prevailing over evil, the truth winning out.
I seem to be on a roll and there is more to come. The photograph is one taken from the window of my flat in Drake House, one of the buildings in Dolphin Square.
I once suggested to Joo Kim Tiah (the multibillionaire of my acquaintance) hat he purchase Dolphin Square. He demurred saying his company was, if anything, only interested in hotels in London. Mr. Tiah had not done his research – Dolphin House, part of the complex, is a hotel . Mr. Tiah might be able to get it for a steal these days.
Very faithful readers will know that the fictional wedding of Kim Me Poo and Alicia McTwit was to take place in Dolphin Square but the proposed construction prevented the sighting of the nuptials there. Perhaps the wedding is back on!
