A massive re-urbanisation of the Foreshore area has begun, says Rob Kane, the Chairperson of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID). “As the CCID, we define this area as stretching from Riebeek Street and Old Marine Drive down to Table Bay and Nelson Mandela boulevards, and bordered on either side by Buitengracht and Christiaan Barnard streets.
“Of the more than R7bn of investment being made in the CBD between last year (2014) and declared to date to be completed by 2017, over R2.114bn of this has recently been completed in the Foreshore area. More than R3.112bn is still to be completed between now and 2017, including the new Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital and the CTICC expansion. This is going to completely revitalise the Foreshore. It’s also one of the few areas in the CBD where greenfields developments can still take place.”
Two major corporates have recently concluded lease agreements through Ikon Property Group for prime office space in the area. “The Foreshore precinct has been earmarked as the next major growth node in the Cape Town CBD. It has convenient accessibility to public transport, and being on the periphery of the CBD it has almost immediate access to the N1 and N2 freeways,” says Jerri Mperdempes, senior commercial property broker of Ikon Property Group.
But it’s not just commercial property developers and brokers that have recognised the appeal of the foreshore area, residential development has taken off too.
Amdec Property Development’s newly launched The Yacht Club is a high-rise, apartment-style, mixed-use development that will build on the incredible success of the existing V&A Waterfront.
Those with the equity in place have been quick to jump on opportunities as they come to market. Basil Moraitis, Pam Golding Properties area manager City Bowl and Atlantic Seaboard, says the demand for apartments in The Yacht Club has been overwhelming. “We anticipated a period of about three months for the sell-out of phase one. However the units were snapped up in a matter of days, necessitating the fast-track release of phase two,” he says, noting that it was launched to the Johannesburg market on 6 October and more than 60% sold on the night. “The demand is driven by the lack of stock in the market and the value proposition of this development when compared to pricing of units elsewhere in the Waterfront area.”
