Johannesburg - The first premium office building in a new precinct at Century City in Cape Town is to be developed by a joint venture between listed property group Growthpoint and the Rabie Property Group at a cost of R423 million.
The joint venture will develop the new 17 262m2 office building in the new precinct on the N1/Ratanga Corridor of Century City, which has the potential for 150 000m2 of development.
It will feature a parking ratio of 3.5 bays per 100m2 of offices on site while additional bays will be available in the adjacent public parking facility to meet potential higher demand.
This is Growthpoint’s third major office property investment at the Century City mixed-use development and it has been designed to Green Building Council of SA 5-Star Green Star SA rating standards. Growthpoint first acquired the 11 000m2 BCX building and then five prime office buildings offering about 11 400m2 of office space in The Estuaries Office Park.
Rudolf Pienaar, the office divisional director for Growthpoint Properties, said Century City was one of the best-performing office nodes in South Africa and Growthpoint’s increased exposure to this fast-growing node furthered its investment strategy. “Vacancies at Century City are substantially lower than the national average for office vacancies. Thanks to good demand levels, it has shown some consistent rental growth in a tough market,” he said.
Pienaar added that the new Century City office development would strengthen Growthpoint’s office portfolio with top-quality assets while also balancing its investment spread in the Western Cape office market, which includes Growthpoint’s 50 percent stake in the V&A Waterfront offices and several other landmark buildings in the city.
David Stoll, the Western Cape regional manager for Growthpoint, said office property in the region was performing strongly and Growthpoint’s office vacancies were “a very low 4.08 percent”.
Colin Anderson, a director of Rabie Property Group, said the group was excited to partner with Growthpoint Properties on this new development because it showed confidence in Century City as a premier development node.
Norbert Sasse, the chief executive of Growthpoint, said the Rabie Property Group had a phenomenal track record and the success of its Century City developments showed the superior investment property assets it delivered. - Business Report