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11 Oct 2004

CONSTRUCTION is booming at Century City, the mega mixed-use development on the N1, with projects underway and on the drawing board creating well in excess of 14 000 jobs directly and indirectly.

In a spectacle not seen in greater Cape Town for quite some time, there are currently ten cranes and two mobile cranes massed on the Century City sky-line with more to come as the first of other major commercial and residential projects in the pipeline get underway.

The cranes now on site are being used in the construction of two large sectional title residential apartment developments – the R400m The Island Club project and the R270m Villa Italia project which together are bringing close to 800 new front doors to Century City over the next year or so. These two projects alone will have created more than 2 000 direct jobs during the construction phase and many more jobs indirectly as the multiplier effect of direct job creation in the construction industry is estimated at seven indirect jobs for every direct job created.

Nine other major developments totalling about R1.8 billion are currently on the drawing board. Of these, five are residential projects totalling about R1 billion while the other six, totalling more than R700m, are mixed commercial develop-ments including a 40 000 sq m business park. Construction of the first of these and at least one other residential project is expected to start within the next few months with the balance all getting underway during 2005.

Century City, which has been riding the residential property boom of the past two years, has become a sought-after residential destination with the developers struggling to meet demand for housing in the area.

Over and above the two sectional title departments, buyers have also snapped up about 400 single residential homes in seven projects in the Century View precinct of Century City. The first phase of 60 units in the most recent of these, The Avenues, sold out within days necessitating the earlier than planned release of the 38 units in phase 2 in early October.

A further 500 direct jobs are being created on The Avenues project and other single residential projects at Century View and when these are completed by the end of next year there will be very little land left to develop in this precinct. All four projects currently under construction there as well as The Island Club on the central Century City site will be completed by the end of next year which will see the emergence of a vibrant urban community within Century City.

Greg Deans, managing director of Century City Property Developments, the new company that recently acquired all the property interests and under-developed land at Century City, says the residential boom of the past year is not showing any signs of abating and they are developing some exciting, innovative new products to meet the surging demand for quality housing in the area.

He says while the commercial market had been stagnant in recent years, inquiries had picked up significantly since the transfer of ownership of Century City at the end of June and a number of significant deals are now close to finalization.

“These are very exciting times for Century City which is now back in the hands of shareholders whose core business is property development and who have injected a new energy, confidence and vibrancy into the development. There is no doubt we are now firing on all cylinders to realize the vision of creating a city within a city. There will no doubt be challenges ahead such as dealing with the emerging capacity constraints within the construction industry but with hard work and careful planning this can be overcome,” he says.