The Portuguese tried to grab it. The Dutch and English squabbled over it too. But now the treasured piece of Cape Town real estate is due to bear the logo of the world's richest company, Amazon.
However the dust has far from settled over the R4bn River Club development site, once a pasture for Khoikhoi herders who did battle with European soldiers more than 500 years ago. Amazon, due to be the anchor tenant, looks set to have a front-row seat on a uniquely South African property spat.
On the one side of the Liesbeek River divide is a coalition of objectors who have vowed legal action to stop the bulldozers moving on to the site next month.
On the other side is a development company, Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT), that says thousands of jobs are on the line, along with the chance of making history with a heritage-sensitive, multi-use precinct featuring offices, shops, hotel and residential accommodation and a cultural centre.
Straddling the divide are a range of First Nations representatives, some in favour and some against, as well as political luminaries such as Allan Boesak who spoke at a Freedom Day march staged to protest against the development.
Though the First Nations group the Goringhaicona are regarded as the traditional custodians of the area, at least four other such groups are involved in the dispute.
Amazon this week declined to comment on the project, which will house its Africa head office. However, the City of Cape Town has wasted no time in trumpeting the potential economic benefits of the planned 150,000m² development that will combine commercial and housing uses across two precincts.
"Precinct 1 includes mixed-use . Precinct 2 will house the Amazon headquarters, which is 70,000m² of floor space," the city said in a statement.
The construction phase would create more than 5,200 jobs, with 19,000 additional jobs linked to the entire project, it said. "The developer intends 31,900m² to be used for residential purposes."
However, LLPT faces a legal challenge from the Observatory Civic Association (OCA), which is planning to seek a court order to set aside the environmental authorisation and land-use authorisations that underpin the development.
The association this week appealed to LLPT to halt earthworks on the site until after the court hearing.
"The OCA and many other concerned organisations and individuals believe that it is not in the public interest for the proposed development to proceed," its OCA's legal representative said in a letter sent on Tuesday to trustees of the Liesbeek Leisure Property Properties Trust (LLPT), the developer and landowner.
OCA chairperson Leslie London said: "Although we have written to Jeff Bezos twice to appeal to him, we have never received any reply. We can't say that whether he is misinformed or unaware but we have tried out best to alert Amazon that this is not the site to destroy in order to create another mega-office complex cum commercial campus with 2,000 parking bays."
• 150,000 - Square metres development footprint
• 31,900 - Square metres residential component
— In Numbers
But LLPT responded that the objectors were potentially delaying a jobs bonanza and environmental rehabilitation. It insisted the project had the support of a broad coalition of First Nations groupings.
"It is perplexing that vicious and vocal nimbyism by a handful opposes our plans to transform this degraded private land into a beautiful and publicly accessible treasure that will be enjoyed by all the people of Cape Town," the company said in response to Sunday Times queries, using the acronym for "not in my backyard".
The city rezoned the land from a conservation space to commercial use earlier this year despite stiff opposition, including from Heritage Western Cape. The city said its decision was based on "the need to balance investment and job creation, along with heritage and planning considerations".
The site was historically used for recreational purposes by the former landowner, the South African Rail Commuter Corp (later Transnet), and then leased to LLPT in 2000 for 75 years. The trust later bought the property.
Chairperson of the Institute for the Restoration of the Aborigine of SA (Irasa). Tania Kleinhans-Cedras this week backed the development and said those opposing it "do not really have a legal basis because they are not Goringhaiconas".
"If you are the owner of the house you will decide who you will open your door to," Kleinhans-Cedras said.
The First Nations groups have no ownership stake in the business, LLPT said, but they would manage and operate a heritage cultural and media centre.
The trust also dismissed environmental concerns related to the Liesbeek River, which formed a boundary between Khoi herders and settlers during the earliest days of colonial conquest.
"Vast cleaning and rehabilitation projects will be undertaken at the developer's cost to restore this important natural resource into a beautiful, environmentally sensitive and safe space," LLPT said.
The river valley was the site of the first recorded colonial battle in the Cape - a 1510 skirmish involving Portuguese soldiers under the command of Francisco de Almeida.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.