Capricorn Park, the 68ha business and industrial park in Muizenburg, is at the forefront of the industrial boom in the Western Cape with all but three of the 82 industrial sites in the first phase having been snapped up.

Since being repositioned as a business and industrial park 12 months ago, Capricorn Park has notched up 66 sales of industrial erven for a total of R55million and has secured its first head office development for Crusader Holdings. A further R10million in sales are currently under negotiation.

Wendy Hartshorne, asset manager for Capricorn Park, said all 30 small industrial sites in phase one have now been sold with 25 of these having been achieved in the past 12 months. Only one of the 16 large industrial sites and two of the 36 specialised industrial erven in the first phase remain to be sold.

Hartshorne said that sales in the office precincts had been slower but were  gaining momentum on the back of the strengthening commercial property market. To date 12 of the 44 office erven have been sold, seven of these in the past year with the level of inquiries having picked up substantially in recent months.

A flurry of construction activity is expected at Capricorn shortly. There are currently about 30 000 square metres already built with plans for 15 more buildings – warehousing, distribution, office and showroom premises - currently being reviewed by the Design Review Committee and expected to get underway next year. In fact the recent land sales are expected to attract investment of more than R400m in the short to medium term with concomitant benefits for downstream industries and job creation in the region.

Tony van Heerden, a director of Capricorn Park, said that while sales had picked up considerably in the past year – a total of 73 against only 18 in the previous five years when Capricorn was marketing itself as a science and technology park  - it was only now starting to break even due to the high level of infrastructure that had been provided up front. This infrastructure had benefited not only Capricorn but the surrounding areas as well and had helped spawn a significant amount of residential development on neighbouring sites. Future phases of Capricorn will also benefit from the existing infrastructure.

“We are in Capricorn for the long haul. It is not just a financial investment but an investment in the local community, in upliftment, in job creation and in keeping businesses located in this part of the Cape Town metropole,” says Van Heerden.

Capricorn Park borders on Vrygrond, the oldest informal settlement in the Western Cape which was upgraded to formal housing in 1999. Capricorn Park was premised on releasing land for business and industrial development close to labour pools and thus promoting the use of local labour for both contract and permanent jobs, he said.

Without exception, purchasers canvassed this week, said they had chosen to relocate to Capricorn Park due to its prime location which was both accessible and close to their labour forces as well as the secure, pristine environment it offered providing them with a high quality lifestyle.

Purchasers include James Gorrie of Gorrie & Findlay who is planning a 45 unit mini factory development in response to strong market demand for industrial units of around 250 square metres.

He said they were finalizing their plans and hoped to be on site early next year.