Sectional title units on the Strand beachfront, especially those fronting onto the Golden Mile which stretches along the beach from the Strand Pavilion to the Lourens River Bridge, have for some time now been selling at substantial discounts to the prices asked when they were originally launched in the heyday of South Africa’s property boom. Some of the very best buys in Strand right now, says Wouter Joubert, co-franchisee for the Rawson Property Group’s Strand franchise, are the 22 units still available in the prestigious and ultra-modern apartment complex now known as 97 On Strand.
In 2012, this building was bought in an incomplete state by the local property developers Arjan Ockhuisen and Andre du Plessis, who continue to use the building’s design team, Jordaan Consulting Architects and the local contractor PPR.
The new owners have fitted out all 36 residential apartments’ kitchens with black granite countertops and stainless steel Bosch ovens, hobs and extractor fans. They have also installed porcelain tiles in all the communal areas.
On offer now is a range of units varying from single bedroom 79 m2 bachelor pads priced at R 1,295,000 to two and three bedroom apartments, the latter category containing two 185 m2 penthouses where the top price is R4,750,000. A typical two bedroom unit would have 82 m2 of floor area and the marketing price is R1,495,000. All the units have balconies and look out either across False Bay or inland towards the Hottentots Holland and Helderberg ranges. Many of the units also have storerooms and lock-up garages.
Security, says Joubert, has been given a strong priority in this project and, as a result, it has access control, not only to the foyer areas and rooms but also to the parking garages in the basement and on the first floor level. CCTV monitors have also been installed throughout the public areas of the complex.
“As a result of being a resuscitation project,” says Joubert, “this particular scheme has very competitive prices, especially if you compare what is offered here to similar luxury apartments in Green Point, Sea Point or elsewhere along the Atlantic Seaboard.”
