By Nick Wilson

Developer Novate Property Investments announced yesterday that Triple Point, its proposed mixed-use development in East London, would effectively double in size following the acquisition of 13ha of adjoining land for an undisclosed amount.

The size of the Beacon Bay project, the first of its kind in East London, will now increase to 25ha, placing it closer in scale to Melrose Arch, the Johannesburg mixed-use precinct on which it is modelled. The value of the project will also increase from R750m to close to R2bn.

Grant Wheatley, strategic development manager for Novate, said the group had “paid a competitive price” for the additional land and that the move followed a “lot of interest from retailers and office developers” in the Triple Point project.

Wheatley said: “We found that we couldn’t offer enough economies of scale for retailers. They required extra space. We are also looking to make it the financial services hub of East London, and with that comes high demand for triple A-grade office space.”

As far as office space in the proposed development was concerned, Triple Point was originally limited to 10000m² of offices. Now, because of the acquisition of additional land, the group can build up to 100000m² of office space.

Retail was also initially limited to 10000m² in the development. “Now we can go up to between 40000m² and 45000m². This lends itself to the establishment of a community-sized mall.”

The residential component of the mixed-use precinct will now also be increased from 200 apartments to 800 residential units.

He said there was also strong demand for residential units.

“We have already sold R100m worth of apartments and estate homes,” Wheatley said. “Next month we are going to announce the signing of a four-star internationally operated hotel.”

The initial 12ha of Triple Point is expected to be completed towards 2010, while the whole development should be completed by 2015. 

Business Day