By By Nick Wilson

Listed property company Orion Real Estate is planning a R1bn property development including a large retail centre, apartments and a hotel in Bethlehem in the eastern Free State.

The development on a 47ha site around Gobles Folly will also include a waterfront because the site on which the properties are to be developed includes a dam of more than 4ha.

Orion Real Estate MD Franz Gmeiner said on Friday the company would be developing the site in a joint venture with Abland, a private investor and black economic empowerment partner Isaac Seoe of Rob's Investments.

Gmeiner said phase one of the development would include the construction of a 40,000m? retail centre.

He said the development was tenant driven. "We received an inquiry from Pick 'n Pay to develop a 6,000m? store. This was the start of the process."

Woolworths will be taking a 3,000m? store in the centre.

"Bethlehem is becoming the hub of the eastern Free State. It serves smaller towns such as Ficksburg, Harrismith and Clarens," he said.

The development's first phase would start early next year as rezoning and project planning still had to take place.

Further phases planned in the development include apartment buildings, a cluster residential village, a retirement village and a four-star full service hotel.

Gmeiner said the waterfront aspect of the development was merely an "additional feature".

"It is a conventional shopping centre which has an additional feature of a waterfront. When we were first approached by Pick 'n Pay we were looking for a site, and the site happened to have water on it. We are using this natural feature and creating an additional theme around it," he said.

He said all phases of the development would take about four-and-a-half years to complete. Orion would hold a 55% interest in the development. The new development would effectively double Orion's asset base, valued at about R500m.

Business Day