Nxt Tec seeks to list US arm, as it lists WA block for sale. But its says it is not finished in Perth

Controversial builder Nxt Tec is seeking to float its US arm on the Nasdaq, as it lists the Rivervale site where it once had approval for the Wyndham Lux hotel. But Nxt Tec co-founder Natasha Di Ciano said the hotel project was not necessarily over, with the company’s US arm set to make a bid on the land. She said Nxt Tec’s American arm was seeking to list on the NASDAQ over the next few months. The Rivervale land is currently owned by Nxt Tec co-founders Ms Di Ciano and Mataki O’Goshi Lim, who invented the technology behind the company. Ms Di Ciano said that even if the land was purchased by an unrelated buyer, Nxt Tec would be keen to build the revolutionary hotel, pending approvals, should the new owner desire. The 1275sqm site at 61 Great Eastern Highway in Rivervale is up for sale via an offers to purchase campaign run by Knight Frank agents Zach Schreier and Cory Dell’Olio. Nxt Tec had planned to build a 120-room hotel using its revolutionary technology, which involves 13 pieces of patented technology which lock buildings together like a giant LEGO set. The 120-room hotel initially got the green light in 2017, with construction due to start the same year. However, the 10-storey development stalled and was granted a two-year approval extension in January of 2019, with the project to start in early 2020. COVID-19 caused further delays and in March 2023, Nxt Tec was warned by the Metro Inner South Joint Development Assessment Panel that construction must begin on the project within 12 months. In March 2024 it won a third extension, giving it until January 2025 to begin works. However, it only managed to get a building permit in December 2024 — blaming unrelated parties for the delays — and complaining it was not given enough time to begin construction before the approval lapsed. Ms Di Ciano said Nxt Tec was now focused on preparing the NASDAQ listing, which involved recently entering a strategic partnership with a company called M2i Global Inc. Ms Ciano said the partnership with the mineral and metals group would enable Nxt Tec to investigate alternative uses for its technology, as well as using it in US construction. “The market is larger there,” Ms Di Ciano said of the imminent US listing. “It is important to put our technology into a market that values it.” There have been high hopes for the revolutionary technology, which has been tested by authorities such as CSIRO and Griffith University and accredited as meeting the National Construction Code, Building Codes of Australia and Australian Standards requirements. It is able to take homes from slab to lock-up in only four days. But the company has been mired in disputes, including a Supreme Court writ against the State Government for cancelling three of four social housing homes it had been contracted to build. However, the WA company still has plans for its home town. They include a 40-storey hotel tower on Wellington Street in Perth, near the freeway overpass. Mr Lim said the plans were in the concept stage and had not been sent to planning authorities. The proposal is set across a total gross floor area of 29,521sqm and includes 209 hotel-room keys, 30 serviced apartments, three sub-penthouses, a presidential suite, a restaurant, a function centre and dining areas and car parking.