The City of Cape Town has approved a R1bn mixed-use development application that includes a hotel, apartments, offices and restaurants on the edge of the city's main industrial area of Paarden Eiland, close to Cape Town Harbour.
The approval this week by the municipal planning tribunal lifts title deed restrictions on the developer's land despite a tribunal report recommending against mixed-use development in Paarden Eiland. It is unclear why the recommendation was overturned.
Paarden Eiland is the epicentre of SA's boat-building industry, which has an annual economic contribution of about R2.2bn. The South African Boat Builders Export Council (Sabbex) submitted an objection to the Paarden Eiland application by Spear Reit, saying the development would drive an industry that had taken decades to build, "further and further away from the water".
Sabbex said it fears mixed-use development will erode the area's industrial character and inflate land prices, thereby affecting marine-sector companies that are already feeling the effects of a struggling economy.
The development plan features a
54m-high three- or four-star hotel with 200 rooms, residential accommodation for the rental market, and retail and office facilities
Tommy Brummer, the town planner for the project, denied there would be any negative impact on the boat-building sector: "Note that the existing site contains almost no industrial uses and no boat-building activities. The concerns of the boat-building industry are ill-founded," he said.
The planning tribunal's report contains concerns raised by some of the city's own departments: "The proposal will represent the loss of a scarce economic resource which could not easily be replaced elsewhere," said the enterprise & investment department.
However, the city is also driving mixed-use developments as a way of cross-subsidising social housing and densifying historically skewed spatial development.
Laurie Wener, Pam Golding Properties senior executive for developments: Cape region, said the lower unit entry price of "micro apartment schemes" opens these units to a wider market.
