News Blog
Nader Agha Scraps Desal Deal, Looks for New Capital
February 26, 2013
In December, developer Nader Agha (pictured above) announced he'd sold interest in his Moss Landing Commercial Park assets, including his proposed desalination plant, dubbed the People's Project.
The announcement now appears to have been premature. A Feb. 15 press release from Agha— stating the People's Project's bid to become the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District's contingency desal plant if the Cal Am project fails—made no mention of private-equity investment firm JDL Development, which had reportedly bought Agha's Moss Landing Business Park LLC for an “eight-figure” sum.
Neither Agha nor JDL Managing Partner Donald Lew could be reached for comment. But Agha's attorney, Paul Hart, says JDL failed to produce the $52 million in capital infusion it had stipulated in a contract.
"We were told that the funds were available; turns out they were not," Hart says. "The time period for performance expired. As a result, Nader has maintained control of the project and is pursuing alternative financing to move forward."
In the press release, Agha claims his proposed desal plant can be built for $75.5 million and maintained for $12.3 million per year, breaking down to $1,149 per acre-foot of product water, excluding water conveyance infrastructure.
That number is at odds with a consultant's report finding the People's Project could produce 9,000 acre-feet of water per year at $2,320 per acre-foot.
Comments
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID