The official opening of the new Section Street Extension in Brooklyn on 25th March 2004 cleared the way for major development, on land that was previously commercially inaccessible.
The new road extension directly onto the N1 has all but eradicated a previous bottleneck traffic problem at the intersection of Koeberg Road and Section Street and the way for a highly accessible and desirable 16 hectares of land to be developed.
According to Chris Wolf of JHI Real Estate, who is exclusively handling the sale of the property on behalf of the owners, the land has recently been granted a range of zonings including light industrial, mixed business and high profile commercial zones. “This heralds the turning point in an 18-year wait by the site owners who are putting the site out for sale by public tender”.
The site, which fronts onto the N1, is 5 km from the new Cape Town Convention Centre just before the Ysterplaat Air Field and was previously known as the “Shell Tank Farm” - - and more recently, used as a golf driving range.
Wolf says the 16 hectare site is ideally located in terms of access and visibility and should be an extremely viable alternative for a range of users who may currently be considering Century City, N1 city, Montague Gardens or Marconi Beam areas.
“This prime site will do for Paarden Eiland what the Waterfront did for Cape Town”.
Tender prices for the entire landholding as a single sale are expected to exceed
R25 million. The new owner will have to undertake the next cycle, which will be the subdivision and servicing of the site into the various usage components. Market response for subdivided portions of the site, albeit in a years time, has been excellent.”
Kurt Gouwsventer, Bellville regional manager for JHI Real Estate adds that over the past 18 months they have experienced an incredibly strong real estate market in conjunction with fair economic growth, a stable Rand, relatively low inflation and a very positive business outlook in general.
“Whereas the office market has generally suffered due to an oversupply of office buildings, the same cannot be said for the industrial market which has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 2 years. Having recovered from the high interest rates of 25% during 1999, the industrial sector has now reached its best growth period in 15 years. Industrial areas in the Northern Suburbs have hardly any vacant land available for new developments and factory vacancies are at an all time low”.
Rental rates are increasing for the 2nd time in a year with property investors experiencing exceptional returns on their investments. “Industrial warehouses and factories in areas such as Stikland and Brackenfell are being bought by owner -operators at above market-related values”.
The shortage of available land will result in the upgrading of older warehouses in areas that were previously less desirable yet perfectly functional.
Gouwsventer concludes that generally the outlook for the next 12 months remains the same, as more and more investors are anticipating entering this lucrative market.
ENDS
Issued by: Rosemary Roberts
Of: JHI Real Estate Ltd
28 May 2004
Publisher: JHI Real Estate
Source: JHI Real Estate
