Largest housing project in city

Bronwynne Jooste

METRO WRITER

THE CITY of Cape Town will be launching its largest mixed housing development, providing homes for more than 2 000 residents on the waiting list.

Public viewing for the Pelican Park development, pictured, is open next month. When complete, it will accommodate 3 000 homes.

What makes this project unique is that it aims to cater for homeowners with varying income. Units cater for residents on the waiting list, people who qualify for gap housing and buyers on the “open market”.

There will be just over 2 000 subsidised houses. They will be for those on the city’s housing list, making a dent in the 400 000-strong list. Some of the residents who could benefit from these homes have been waiting for more than 40 years.

Added to subsidised houses, there will be over 600 “gap market” homes, selling from R290 000.

The more expensive “open market” homes will sell from R480 000.

Small-scale entrepreneurs will also have a space, in 63 double-storey units. The design lends itself to living on the top floor, while residents can operate small business from the ground floor. The developer is Power Construction.

Ernest Sonnenberg, mayoral committee member for human settlements, said the project was the city’s largest housing development to date.

A show village is being built and will be completed next month. Potential buyers will have the chance to inspect the homes.

Sonnenberg said one set of each of the different types of units would be done by then.

He said there was a challenge in building affordable houses. But the size and scale of this project placed it i deally for a mixed-use development. He was confident the more expensive homes would prove popular with Cape Town buyers. One of the biggest bonuses was the project’s location.

“The open market houses will provide excellent value at levels affordable to first time buyers, the environment with views across Zeekoevlei to the Muizenberg and Tokai mountains are spectacular.

As part of the development, residents would be roped to assist with construction. Sonnenberg said about 300 jobs would be opened specifically for this development.

Graham Power, the chairman of the Power Group, said a community liaison would soon start working with residents. He said the development set a trend for what housing developments would look like in the future.

bronwynne.jooste@inl.co.za