By Eleanor Momberg
As property prices continue to drop and most people count their pennies before their next big expenditure, Sol Kerzner has announced he is putting up three exclusive penthouses for sale in Cape Town.
The price tag for each of the duplex penthouses situated at the new One&Only resort on a new marina at the V&A Waterfront is a whopping R100-million. But, Kerzner says, this is reasonable.
"If you look at it in terms of what is being sold in similar positions elsewhere this is not expensive," he says. "Personally, I think it is a bargain."
The four-bedroom residences are being constructed on the top two floors of the 131-key One&Only Cape Town resort which is set to open its doors to visitors at the beginning of October 2009, before the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
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The smallest of the three penthouses is 810m2, and the largest 943m2 - twice the size of the ballroom and conference centre being constructed in the Tower Marina hotel below. Each will have breathtaking views of two World Heritage Sites - Table Mountain and Robben Island. They have direct access lifts, meaning the new owners will not have to pass through the hotel lobby to get home. Each one also has substantial terraces with pools.
Also included in the purchase package would be personalised services such as catering on an a-la-carte basis, a concierge, housekeeping as well as spa and beauty treatments and a fitness centre.
The penthouses are being marketed locally, but will also be made available to international players.
Kerzner hopes the apartments, which will be structurally complete by the end of July, will be sold before the end of the year so that the new owners can have an input in personalising the interior design.
The construction of the urban resort was confirmed by Kerzner in October last year. Since then, he says, a number of people have shown an interest in the penthouses. "We had a number of people who seemed pretty serious about acquiring them. There have been discussions, but I do not want to get into a discussion about that now."
Kerzner believes his new Cape Town venture is unique, and that it will be one of South Africa's more luxurious destinations.
Architect Dennis Fabian points out that the resort will integrate with the Waterfront district. It has been kept understated, yet sophisticated and elegant, to meet environmental aesthetics and design requirements determined by the Waterfront's managers, he says, pointing out that the resort also blends in with new apartments constructed along the waterway linking the hotel to the Cape Town International Convention Centre by water taxi. The interiors have been designed by Adam Tihany, an acclaimed New York-based interior designer.
Forty of the resort's guest rooms are situated on a landscaped island in the marina. Another island, linking the Towers to the cabanas, features a spa, fitness centre and swimming pool as well as a children's club and local restaurants.
Kerzner and his team are particularly excited about the inclusion of a world-renowned Nobu restaurant, with its signature Japanese-inspired menu, in the project, as well as a South African tapas restaurant of which one wall will be a three-storey glass wine cellar with its own tasting room and cooling system.
Kerzner remains adamant the R1-billion resort will be embraced by Capetonians who would have full access to the restaurants and bars, and membership-only access to the spa and island pool area. "I am optimistic that we have broken new ground here," he says, while enthusiastically showing members of the media and the design team around the construction site this week.
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