According to Arnie Katz, director for Broll Property Group and PE commercial property specialist, although speculative industrial developments in the city have not been easy to fill, developments in William Moffet, Fairview and the Buffelsfontein areas have attracted interest, particularly with the release of restitution land, of which the first 100-metres adjacent to William Moffet Drive is reserved for commercial development.

“Large-scale development is expected to take place on the restitution land soon and it is likely that the borders of these developments will offer excellent potential for commercial developers,” says Katz.

Already William Moffet Drive, which links the city’s prime decentralised business node of Newtown Park with the upmarket and predominantly residential suburb of Walmer, is steadily serving to attract businesses.

With Mercedes, East Cape Motors, Volkswagen and Honda all lining up their new motor showrooms along William Moffet Drive, it is set to become the gleaming face of the city’s economic life-blood – the motor industry.

These motor groups, keen on capitalising on the many advantages of being situated close to other businesses and near to a desirable consumer market, are organically creating a comparative retail showroom node which is also being supported by other big-box showroom retailers. The busy William Moffet stretch has also been re-invigorated with a number of retail outlets and shopping centres.

While the Port Elizabeth area has shown a limited demand for industrial development, with the northern parts of the city being more popular, Katz notes that this has not been the case at Coega. He explains that Coega’s leasehold-only policy effectively restricts property ownership, and for many businesses this is not an attractive proposition.

“These business owners have had to look elsewhere, serving to focus demand to other areas in Port Elizabeth, including the William Moffet hub,” explains Katz.