By Douglas Carew
The Claremont Bowling Club, situated in an upmarket residential area close to Cavendish Square, is fast turning into an eyesore with knee-high weeds thriving on the once immaculate bowling greens.
The club, in Bowwood Road, closed at the end of last season and is in a state of disrepair - but Marlize Odendal, the City of Cape Town's manager of municipal property, said the site was being prepared for sale.
"The application for the rezoning of the property from community facilities to single dwelling has been initiated. In the meantime the council has arranged for the City Police to take up temporary occupation of the premises.
"They are expected to look after the site pending the sale," Odendal said.
Asked why it had closed, Odendal said the club had told the city it wanted to cancel its lease because, after many years of struggling, it could no longer sustain the costs of running the club.
The size of the prime site to be put on sale is about 10 800m2 including the clubhouse, which measures 436m2.
Odendal said the city had applied for rezoning of the land to single dwelling residential and, if and when the zoning was achieved, the intention was to sell the property as is by public auction.
The land is extremely valuable and has stood idle for many months since being vacated by the bowling club, with no rates entering the city's coffers.
Odendal said it was inaccurate to say that no action had been taken because the rezoning had been initiated and the survey of the site would soon be undertaken in preparation for the proposed sale.
"During the course of the rezoning process the intended rezoning and sale will be advertised in the press for comment and/or objection and it will depend on the comments received as to how long the rezoning process will eventually take.
"The sale can only proceed once the appropriate zoning is in place," she said.
If the land does become available for development it is expected to result in a flurry of interest from developers.
Mick Joyce, the managing director of Pam Golding Properties Western Cape, welcomed news of the proposed rezoning.
"It has huge and exciting potential for developers," Joyce said.
The land lent itself to a security estate development and according to his calculations the land was closer in size to 19 000m2.
Deducting land needed for things like road access and services, Joyce said that would allow for about 38 units of about 500m2 in an area where homes sold for between R1,8 and R2,2-million.
"It is exciting as land is scare in that sought after area," Joyce said.
Ken Gass, a Brookes and Michaels estate agent who has worked in the the area for more than 15 years, said it was probably the biggest piece of undeveloped land to become available for development in the area in more than a decade.
"It's a nice piece of ground," Gass said.
Land sold for about R1 500 a square metre in the area so the land could be worth up to R16,2-million. But Gass said that estimated value had to be adjusted to take into account that some of the land was on Bowwood Road and therefore less valuable.
The price would also be affected by the fact that whoever bought the land would have to apply for the right to subdivide and deal with any objections from the community, he added.
Pam Golding agent Heather Turner gleefully described the proposed rezoning as "lovely news".