So maintains the De La Porte Property Group (DLP) who launched a new R30 million business park at Airport City, adjacent to Cape Town International Airport this week, based on rigorous research.

The project, called Concorde Park, is being developed by a private consortium, and will be ready for occupation by early next year.  It is aimed directly at tenants from the range of forwarding and distribution business, along with other industries dealing in international trade and services involving short-term storage and shipping. Each of the six units ranges between 550m2 and 600m2, which may be combined into larger spaces if needed.

‘The essential difference here, is that the development is based on confidence generated by a very careful study of the current market,’ says DLP broker Rob Ryll. ‘The investors were not prepared to take a risk on a shot in the dark, so all the key attraction criteria were factored into the project. The most important of these was the position.  If there’s anywhere that’s experiencing a boost of confidence right now, it’s Airport City, for all the most obvious reasons.’

While most commercial or industrial property marketing stressed easy access to the airport, he said, and a five to 10km radius was considered an attractive distance, ‘right there at the airport gate can’t really be trumped – it’s a factor pivotal to the low vacancy level.’

Concorde Park leads a new generation of accommodation in its sector, with a strong emphasis on quality that includes advanced building design and a higher than average office content - around 30% of the lettable space.  Aesthetics are an important dynamic and the site coverage is only 50% with significant landscaping of open spaces, generous parking allocations and security. ‘What you might call a comfort zone,’ said Ryll.

DLP’s CE, Jonty de la Porte, said it was significant that the most successful developments currently, had taken the human factor strongly into consideration.  ‘If there’s not an insurmountable discrepancy in the cost, tenants and buyers are opting for the accommodation that improves the lifestyle of the people who have to occupy the space.  It may be tough times, but entrepreneurs are recognising that productivity is key to ongoing success, and conducive surroundings are vital to productivity.’

Concorde Park is on one of the now very limited number of smaller plots at Airport City, a development area that has over the past five years generated the most interest in industrial land in the Western Cape.  Both Jonty de la Porte and Rob Ryll believe that the resurgence of investor confidence evidenced in the prime areas such as Airport City will lead to a wider recovery in this market sector.  ‘There’s no doubt that the fence-sitters are moving to develop land they acquired at the peak, but it will be up to them to reassess their expectations of a return in the short-term, as it will be a while before we reach the heights of the industrial land boom again. But there is business to be done,’ said De La Porte.