Housing in Southern Africa December 2015

Housing

From left to right: HZ team Siyabonga Hlengwa, Wandile Zulu, Robert Phato, Bishop MM Qwabe and Brian Ive from Tongaat Hulett Developments.

Bridge City attracts entrepreneurs Bridge City, a key link in KwaZulu-Natal’s rapidly developing Northern Growth Corridor, is attracting entrepreneurs and new entrants into the property sector.

B rian Ive, a Development Execu- tive at Tongaat Hulett Develop- ments, said the wide variety of opportunities andholistic planning of both the Bridge City Town Centre and Business Estate provides for a wide range of business activities, including light industrial, medical, legal, com- mercial, retail and residential. Bridge City is one of KZN's largest inter modal transport facilities and will open up numerous opportunities across these sectors. It is expected to be the second busiest transport interchange in the city, second only to Berea Road/Warwick Junction. The first phase of the Go Durban! integrated rapid public transport network (IRPTN) is expected to be completed in 2018, withBridge City as the meeting point for three bus rapid transport corridors linking Durban CBD, Pinetown and Umhlanga. Once all transport modes are fully opera- tional, it is expected to service over 100 000 commuters daily. Ive points out that significant progress had been made on the first private development at Bridge City by independent property development company, Imabli Props 48. Construc- tion began in late 2014 and the first phase is expected to be completed by December 2015. Centrally located adjacent to the shoppingmall, themixeduse 5 500m² development includes a clinic, Musal- lah, as well as retail, commercial and residential spacewith anchor tenants such as KFC, Lenmed Medical Clinic

and Check Star Supermarket. Ive said that construction is due to begin during the first quarter of 2016. So far, half of the sites within the Bridge City Town Centre (30 ha) have been sold, whilst there are just four sites available inBridge City Busi- ness Estate. Bridge City mixed use develop- ment forms part of Effingham Devel- opment Joint Venture Public Private Sector Partnership between the eThekwini Municipality and Tongaat Hulett. He explained that Tongaat Hulett was reinforcing its commitment to creating meaningful stakeholder value through the growth and devel- opment of young entrepreneurs such as HZ Investments. The R250 million Phase One of the HZ Empire includes a petrol station and a six storeymixed use development. The design review process is due to be concluded within the next two months and all major consultants have been appointed. Phase Two will be located on an adjacent site, the purchase of which is underway. It is hoped to house a ‘gov- ernment mall’ - a one stop govern- ment shop that will include offices of strategic departments such as Home Affairs, the Department of Social

Development andmunicipal electric- ity and water services. Negotiations are currently underway. “Through the creation of a gov- ernment mall, we want to cater for those who cannot travel far. We want to provide jobs and are looking at projects that will have an impact on the area. We want to see this place being elevated. That is one of our core visions,” says Chief Executive of HZ Investments, Wandile Zulu. Together with his colleagues SiyabongaHlengwa, who is joint Chief Executive, Chairman Bishop Qwabe and Chief Operating Officer, Robert Phato, established HZ Investments in 2013. Tongaat Hulett Developments also stepped in to play a mentoring role, according to Ive. “Although many other professional developers had shown an interest in this prime site, we chose to work closely with HZ Investments. In the last two years we have mentored and assisted them in reaching the position to where they are now about to see their first de- velopment. One of our key drivers is to get local black developers to invest in Bridge City and we felt that there was a synergy between the vision of HZ Investments and that of Tongaat Hulett Developments.” ■

December 2015