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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
APRIL
2017
30
PROJECTS & CONTRACTS
Emerging market property developer Land Equity Group, headed
by Stuart Chait, recently purchased Old Mutual Centre and Exchange
Place in Cape Town’s bustling CBD from Old Mutual Properties.
The site, situated on the corner of Adderley and Strand streets,
Cape Town's
TALLEST BUILDING
set to begin in April
Costing in the region of R1,5-billion, development
of the soon-to-be tallest building in Cape Town, has
now been scheduled to begin in April 2017. Although
the development will take 30 months to complete,
over 60% has already been sold out.
across the road from Cape Town Central Station, is designated to
be redeveloped into the 44 000 m
2
tower, which, at 44 storeys, will
be Cape Town’s tallest building. The building is still to be named,
however its current code name is ‘Zero-2-One Tower’.
The development, situated at arguably one of the most iconic
and strategic sites in the city, will comprise 624 apartments, 760
parking bays, retail space of 5 000 m
2
and a 360-degree viewing deck
and restaurant at roof level which will be open to the public. Land
Equity Group has appointed FWJK to co-develop the project.
Comments Chait, “This building is set to transform the Cape
Town city skyline, and once complete it will mean that Cape Town
finally features in the ‘top 10 tallest buildings in South Africa’. It will
in fact be the same height as the Reserve Bank building in Pretoria.’’
‘’The CBD is highly sought-after by investors and tenants.
Statistics continue to show that both buyers and tenants are
prepared to sacrifice bigger homes or apartments in outlying
suburbs, in exchange for the convenient and urban lifestyle that the
city has to offer. There are already at least a dozen new high-rise
buildings in development in the CBD, with many more on the drawing
board for 2017.
Buyers and investors are able to get the tax benefit of the UDZ
allowance which makes their investment highly attractive, and with
the massive ongoing capital investment taking place, the Cape Town
CBD will now be on a par with some of the best cities in the world.
Prior to Old Mutual developing the FNB building only a short time
ago, no skyscrapers had been built in the city for nearly 40 years.
Land Equity has secured another two strategic blocks in the
Cape Town CBD and plans to develop further mixed-use projects
in the bustling node. In total, the company is planning over R4-billion
in new developments in the area this year alone.
Chait has been recently responsible for various major
developments across South Africa, including Melrose Arch, Tyger
Falls in Tyger Valley, Big Bay in Bloubergstrand, Nettleton Ridge
in Clifton, Victoria Junction adjacent to the V& A Waterfront
(Cape Town’s first scalable regeneration mixed-use development),
Stonehurst Mountain Estate, and many other mixed-use projects
in South Africa.
“We are now going into an aggressive development cycle,
having raised significant funding for a R40-billionn pipeline of
development projects across sub-Saharan Africa, and including
South Africa,” adds Chait.