A KEY gateway site over-looking Liverpool’s historic waterfront is likely to be left semi-derelict for years, after a marketing campaign to 800 developers failed to find a buyer.

Administrators were brought in to determine the future of the Baltic Triangle site last spring, after a legal wrangle between developers, Windsor Developments (Liverpool) and contractors Laing O’Rourke.

The site, spanning The Strand and Hurst Street, was destined to be the first part of the development, a £50m high-rise apartment scheme, boast-ing one of the finest addresses in the city. The three apart-ments blocks would have seen the start of an influx of 4,000 people to live in the Baltic Triangle, and would have been sited on the former premises of chandlers Joseph Lamb and Sons, owned by veteran politician Sir Trevor Jones.

Since March last year, BDO Stoy Haywood, which has offices in Manchester and London, has been overseeing the administration of Windsor Developments Liverpool.

According to documents lodged at Companies House, the company collapsed owing £25.5m to Barclays, while Laing are seeking to recover £19.8m, and more than £1m is owed to other service providers.

A letter to creditors states the site was placed on the market by property agents Savills in August last year.

“This campaign targeted 800 dev-elopers, from which a number of for-mal offers were received,” states the letter. It adds: “These offers were given careful consideration by my agents, but it was felt that no accept-able offers were made. We are now considering alternative strategies to maximise the return to creditors.”

BDO have been given permission by Barclays to extend the administr-ation until September, and last night the company said it was still looking at the options for the site.

It is understood there has been a dispute over the value of the site, and the book value of £48m placed on it by Windsor director Stephen Ives.

He said that figure was based on valuations received by Savills and another property consultancy.

Mr Ives said: “That was a long time back at the peak of the market, since then everything else I have heard is speculation. I imagine it is very diffi-cult for anyone to fund it in the curr-ent market. This is one of the first ones (projects) to be hit by the credit crunch.”

It is believed the site is only worth around £10m today, although it is un-derstood that during marketing, a £15m offer was turned down.