Property development in the greater Irene area south of Pretoria is set to boom.
This follows the approval of about 500 000m2 of bulk space in the planned Irene Central project area for phased mixed-use development. Org Geldenhuys, the managing director of property management and development company Abacus Divisions, said a number of leading property developers were lining up to develop the site. Geldenhuys said that investments of about R10 billion would be required to fully develop Irene Central.
Abacus Divisions is the main marketer of the R2bn Route 21 Corporate Park office park, the largest business and office park in the greater Irene area.
Geldenhuys said that about 140ha in this area had been earmarked for mixed-use development, with development rights sanctioned for offices, business, industrial, residential, hotel, entertainment and retail space.
“The greater Irene area is now poised for significant growth and is destined to become an important business hub in the Pretoria area. In fact, it will be the next big business growth hub of Centurion,” he said.
Geldenhuys said there were eight extensions in the Irene Central development area with rights approved for buildings ranging from two to 10 stories.
He said Irene Land Corporation, the area’s main property developer, would manage the phased release of these land parcels.
He said the long-awaited upgrade to the Nellmapius Drive bridge over the R21, which was being done by the Irene Land Corporation, was spurring interest in development of the area.
Geldenhuys said a reservoir had been built by the Tshwane Metro in the area that would handle an estimated 15 million litres of water to service the business area and a suburban area that would mushroom because of the growth of business.
Geldenhuys said there had been extensive telecoms infrastructure upgrades, with Telkom and fibre-optic specialist Dark Fibre Africa laying sophisticated fibre networks in the district that would provide companies and private users with leading edge telecoms capabilities and access to true broadband services.
There had also been significant electricity capacity upgrades, with a new electricity sub-station built in anticipation of the future growth of the area, Geldenhuys said.
“There might have been a global economic meltdown… but in Irene we are seeing things explode. We believe the Route 21 Corporate Park, which is now almost completely developed, is going to be a central point of this business explosion,” he said.
Geldenhuys said Abacus Divisions was marketing a novel office park concept with the planned development of what was “arguably the first boutique office park in the Irene area”. Called Quattro Fontane and located adjacent to the Irene Village Mall, the new office park offers only 20 stands.
Geldenhuys said almost all of these stands had already been pre-sold even though the new development had not yet been officially launched. – Roy Cokayne