Picture: Michael Walker Picture: Michael Walker
The new owners of the V&A Waterfront are to target undeveloped areas next to the Clock Tower and Granger Bay for multibillion-rand development, creating thousands of jobs.
With very little cast in stone pending the deal’s approval by the Competition Commission, one of the Waterfront’s new shareholders said 37 percent of the bulk of the land had been identified for development.
Growthpoint Property said it planned to spend up to R4bn in five to 10 years developing land in the Clock Tower, Gateway and Granger Bay precincts.
A job multiplier estimate has shown that if developers spent R1bn a year, 20 000 jobs could be sustained and new jobs created in the construction sector.
On Monday, Growthpoint Properties announced it had bought the V&A Waterfront along with the Public Investment Corporation representing the Government Employees Pension Fund.
The deal represents South Africa’s biggest property transaction, valued at R9.7bn.
Growthpoint chief executive Norbert Sasse told the Cape Times the available land (220 000m2) was open for mixed use while residential development would take up most of the undeveloped land.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to sit down with Waterfront management to talk about which developments we will push the button on and which ones we want to delay, but a substantial portion will be for residential development, there is no doubt about it,” Sasse said.
The next big section to be developed would be office space followed by retail property. “There is a belief that Cape Town has an over-supply of hotels (post World Cup), but there are hotel operators who are keen to build hotels in the Waterfront,” Sasse said.
Mansoor Mohamed, the City of Cape Town’s executive director of economic and social development and tourism, provided an optimistic job-creation picture based on the proposed R4bn boost for the Waterfront. “According to a job multiplier, 20 000 jobs are sustained or created in the economy. On the other hand the deal is very encouraging and illustrates the confidence in Cape Town as an investment destination.”
While Sasse could not give exact figures, he said: “An investment of this size and nature is significant and must ultimately lead to sustainable job creation”.
Western Cape MEC for Finance and Economic Development Alan Winde said they were pushing partnerships with investors in order to grow the economy. “There is only one way to create jobs and that is through growth. We are pushing partnerships to leverage growth in the economy so that we create jobs. We need to treble our economy and I think we are really starting to see an upward swing from the last two years when the economy was battling.”
Meanwhile, Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle is expected to make announcements next month on major developments for provincial land in the Waterfront. “There are two provincial precincts which are under-utilised or not being utilised and those are the Somerset and Prestwich precincts, and now we can look forward to prosperous development in the Waterfront and that is good for provincial land. The Waterfront is now in the hands of people with money and our premises will certainly be regenerated.”
He added that there was a need for a better connection from the inner city to the Waterfront. “The inner city needs to be connected to the Waterfront, we must make an effort to connect people, because they love it and we saw that with the Fan Mile. That is one problem with the Waterfront, that there isn’t easy access for pedestrians from the city. We will probably create another Fan Mile-type walk so that that this can be like any other major city where people walk and enjoy the city.” - Zara Nicholson