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Cape Town - The Cape-based Tower Property Fund's development of over 70 residential units in Cape Town's Cape Quarter is expected to come on stream from December 2017 through to mid-2019.
Given the high demand for residential property in the area, Tower will sell all the units and re-invest the profits in the business, it said in a recent announcement of interim results for the six months to November 2016.
CEO Marc Edwards told Fin24 on Thursday that the Cape Quarter development is divided into three properties. The main one already has 14 residential apartments on the top floor of the commercial and office space.
The second property - the existing Piazza building - will have at least 54 apartments added to the existing retail and office space. Municipal approval was received in December 2016 for construction to start in June 2016, but there is still a subsequent appeal pending.
For the development of the third property - on Napier Street - the existing building has already been knocked down. The new development will consist of two floors of commercial space, 19 residential apartments and 128 parking bays. Units could be occupied by the first quarter of 2018, estimates Edwards.
It will be possible to drive underground from the Piazza building via the Cape Quarter parking garage to the adjoining Napier Street parking garage.
READ: De Lille gives green light for R1bn Cape Town development
"The area is very unique. Green Point and the V&A Waterfront has become the golden mile of Cape Town from a commercial perspective. A lot of people want to work, live and play in that area. This has, of course, driven up the price of residential property in the area," explained Edwards.
The aim is also to create units that fit the look of the area instead of just modern blocks of flats.
Currently prices for residential property in the area are about R65 000 per square metre and Edwards said that is what Tower will be aiming at for its new units too.
Tower Property Fund increased revenue by 22% to R223m and operating profit by 47% to R195m in the six months to November 2016. The acquisition of a R1bn retail property portfolio in Croatia during the period increased the fund’s total portfolio value to over R5bn. The fund’s portfolio of 49 properties is spread across retail (47%), office (45%) and industrial (8%).
