JOHANNESBURG - The first 270 freehold sites of an eventual about 4 000 housing opportunities in the more than R15 billion Blythedale Coastal Resort located on KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast near King Shaka International Airport have been sold.
Andrew Thompson, the development and sales director of the eLan Property Group, the developers in partnership with the Dube community, said the resort would be developed in seven phases, with the installation of infrastructure commencing in February.
The worldwide launch of the resort took place simultaneously to audiences in Durban, Johannesburg, Dubai and London at the weekend.
Thompson said they had got to the point where they had the pre-sales in place and were finalising agreements to get a local master investor involved in terms of buying the front portion of the development.
“We are waiting for that transfer to take place and will have the ability then to access bank funding and roll out the infrastructure,” he said.
Thompson declined to name the master investor until the transaction was finalised.
He said the development would be funded by the master investors with a local bank funding the initial infrastructure.
He said pre-sales of freehold sites initially started about three years ago at R450 000 up to the R5 million mark but the prices had now moved to R825 000 at entry level to about R6 million.
Thompson estimated that it would take eight years to install all the infrastructure in the development and 10 years to sell out the resort, which was based on comparisons with the Simbithi Eco Estate on the North Coast that it developed in conjunction with listed Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO).
“There we had 2 000 housing opportunities that we sold out in nine and half years.
“This is a very good site that is very well positioned in terms of its proximity to King Shaka International Airport.
“The interest in and growth of the North Coast has been quite dramatic over the last number of years and the site has direct access to 3km of beach. The 320 hectares of indigenous forest is also a huge attraction in terms hiking and biking trails - the romantic side of things,” he said.
Thompson said the development would comprise six themed villages in seven phases and had launched the first two phases.
“Within those two areas, we plan to transfer those sites to the new owners within nine to 24 months,” he said.
Thompson estimated the total development cost of the resort at between R15bn and R20bn, including all the commercial facilities, school of sporting excellence, the golf course, the equestrian and forest villages and the massive beach resort development would be able to sleep 6 000 people.
He believed about 16 000 people would be living in the development once it was completed.
Thompson said affordable housing, comprising about 1 300 units, would be provided at Blythedale Hill adjacent to the N2 highway.
He said it was anticipated the affordable housing would be a combination of social housing, which was rental stock, and Finance-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (Flisp) type subsidised housing.
Thompson said the main part of the estate would cross subsidise the maintenance of infrastructure within the affordable housing component.
“We are hoping that most of the affordable housing will be a combination of commercial and retail in the downstairs areas with the residential component upstairs.
“That will allow the people who are not employed within the estate to ply their own trade,” he said.
Thompson added that the land for the development was being acquired from the Dube community, with the development company entering into a project management and sales and marketing equal joint venture with the community .
He said a communal property association and the Dube community chief would oversee the joint venture.
“This is a catalytic resort destination development, which will create 10 000 permanent jobs, 110 000 construction jobs and unlock six villages within the estate,” he said.