Exactly what is to be built on the Clairwood Racecourse site is not known, but The Mercury can exclusively reveal that the front runner to buy the prime plot is a Gauteng property investment company. The price would be between R220 million and R275m, depending on the time taken to conclude the deal.
Documents seen by The Mercury state that a sale agreement between Calshelf Investments 216 (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of the Cavaleros group, Natal Racing Properties (Pty) Ltd and Gold Circle (Pty) Ltd was entered into last month.
Andrzej Kiepiela, of the KwaZulu-Natal Growth Coalition, which is facilitating the deal, said the sale could take 12 months to finalise because a number of elements, including a due diligence assessment, needed to be considered before development took place.
Gold Circle also needs to get approval from its membership and the gambling board for the deal.
Kiepiela said there was no deal in place and neither party would hold the other responsible if the agreement soured.
“There is no business or development plan in place. The purchaser (Calshelf Investments 216) last week started the due diligence process at their own risk,” he said.
There had been talk that the racecourse would be developed into an industrial zone.
However, Kiepiela said any development proposals would be done in conjunction with other massive projects, like transforming the old Durban airport site into a dig-out port to extend the harbour.
Negotiations are at an advanced stage for Transnet to buy the airport site from the Airports Company SA and convert it into a dig-out port.
The Clairwood property has been on the market for years. It has caught the attention of developers because of its prime position near South Durban Basin industries and the old airport.
The Cavaleros Group is a privately owned property investment and development company headed by Cosmas Cavaleros as chairman. The group is involved in commercial, industrial, hotel, retail and residential property developments.
According to its website, the company owns an impressive property portfolio, including The Hilton Hotel in Sandton, Pick n Pay’s head office building in Kensington, Joburg, Pick n Pay Hypermarket in Durban North, and the Southern Sun Grayston Hotel in Sandton.
According to the sale agreement, the purchase price is R220m. However, if Calshelf Investments took longer than four months after April next year to confirm the sale, the price would increase by R30m.
The price would increase further to R275m if the company gave written notice to proceed with the sale after September 1 next year but before June 30, 2013.
The agreement precludes the company from using the property for “horse racing, the training of horses or any activity associated with horse racing”.
Gold Circle operates the Greyville and Clairwood Park racecourses in Durban and Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg. However, industry insiders suggest having three racecourses in the province is no longer financially viable.
Gold Circle chairman Robert Mauvis said last month that the market in the province did not warrant the maintenance of three tracks. He said the money generated from the Clairwood sale would be used to refurbish the other facilities.
Mauvis has told the Sunday Tribune that, before the deal can go through, most of the voting members of Gold Circle must agree to the sale. The deal would also need the gambling board’s approval. Mauvis said he had “nothing to add”.
According to the eThekwini municipality’s development planning, environment and management department, the racecourse is zoned “private open space”.
Desmond D’Sa, of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, said the alliance would protest if Gold Circle sold the racecourse without consulting it.
“They shouldn’t take away our only green line, because we are surrounded by so many chemicals. The racecourse is our only emergency area where we can run to and where our safety is guaranteed if there is an explosion at a factory,” he said.
The Clairwood Ratepayers and Residents Association would also oppose any industrial development on the racecourse site, its chairman, Rishi Singh, said.
“We need to be consulted… because the Durban South Basin is one of the most polluted areas in South Africa. Any development that involves carbon emissions would be detrimental to residents,” he said. - The Mercury