A HALF-FINISHED hotel complex has been sold by a developer fed up with the problems surrounding the building.

Mirage Hotel and Leisure wants to sell the partially-completed hotel complex at Teesside Airport.

Planning permission for the 80,000sq ft health facility and 120-bedroom hotel was granted in 1998.

Although building work began it was never completed, because of drainage and sewerage problems.

Estate agent Colliers Conrad Ritblat and Erdman (CCRE) has been appointed by the company to sell the site.

There have also been delays in the construction of a £340m terminal at the airport, which was given the go-ahead two years ago.

A spokesman for the hotel company said: "The major shareholders of Mirage have decided, due to the long delays, and problems associated with the development of Teesside Airport, that they are to sell their shares in the company.

"They do not now feel that they have the resources to continue while the remaining difficulties that have prevented them from progressing are resolved."

The spokesman went on to say that the sewerage facilities at the airport were not capable of dealing with extra waste from the hotel.

There were legal problems with the company's solutions, which would have involved moving treated effluent across five properties.

The spokesman said: "The shareholders still acknowledge that the proposed development has significant potential, particularly with the proposed south side of the airport, and the recently announced funding for infrastructure improvements."

Last week, The Northern Echo reported how Darlington Borough Council had solved a number of planning issues with Mirage and could see no reason for the building work not to continue.

This work will now have to wait until a buyer can be found for the half-built development.

Andrew Watt, director at CCRE, is confident the site will be sold and the hotel will finally be completed.

He said: "The Mirage complex is an ambitious proposal which will produce a significant up side to an operator with the vision and the resources available to complete the development."

He said that the facilities would be unrivalled within the North-East.