Property investment is one of the biggest game changers transforming the Cape Town central city.
So far this year seven new developments or redevelopments have been confirmed, at least three of them with a combined value of some R270m.
The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) has published the annual investment guide for the past four years, tracking the growth of various business and leisure sectors, as well as the rise of geographical nodes in the central city.
Commenting on the rise of the Foreshore node since 2012, the report’s editor and co-author, Carola Koblitz, noted the CCID’s first report recorded an investment value into the area of around R3,2bn, which included the development of projects such as Portside, Touchstone House, 22 Bree, Atlantic Centre, the Civic Centre update and the CTICC expansion.
Koblitz says: “In 2012 we had yet to hear of investments such as Roggebaai Place, 33 Heerengracht, the Media24 upgrade, The Towers redevelopment, the Parkalot building, the upgrade to Southern Sun Waterfront, the KPMG building, the redevelopment of Triangle House by Signatura, or even the new Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital. These developments added almost R4,6bn to our original 2012 figures.
Overall property values in the CBD have increased substantially. Rob Kane, chairman, CCID, says: “In 2006, the city’s official valuation of the downtown area sat at just over R6,1bn. By the 2014/15 financial year, this official valuation had risen to close to R24bn.
This article originally appeared in Neighbourhood, Sunday Times.
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