Century City has proved to be an anomaly in the current property market. While many areas are struggling to boost occupancy, Century City is showing excellent rental figures. “With its recently completed Convention Centre development, Century City offers a wide variety of amenities and services, convenient location, easy access and amazing ethos; the area provides a most desirable space in which to live, work and play,” says Liz Grimbeek of Rawson Properties in Century City.
Location
Only 12 kilometres from Cape Town CBD, Century City is accessible to the city, the beaches, the Southern, Northern and West Coast suburbs as well as the winelands. The N1 freeway lies adjacent to the area making for convenient road access to all points of the compass.
Transport
A dedicated train station lies two kilometres from the Convention Centre providing ready access to or from Cape Town, while the upgraded MyCiti Bus System also serves the area. Metered and minibus taxis are freely available. “The road infrastructure is designed to allow an efficient flow of motor vehicles throughout the node, with ample parking at realistic prices,” remarks Grimbeek.
Century City Convention Centre
The Convention Centre is part of a recently completed mixed use development in the Bridgeways precinct. It offers world class conference facilities with 20 venues, the latest AV technology, connectivity, exciting menus and a skilled team in charge. Bookings have flooded in since long before the centre was completed. “A new business-orientated hotel and a seven story mixed-use building incorporating apartments and ground-floor retail premises surround The Square; an open air piazza with restaurants, bistros and coffee shops,” says Grimbeek. It is a popular venue for live concerts or markets besides being a trendy meeting place for residents and people working in the area.
Amenities
Canal Walk boasts more than 400 retail outlets besides numerous restaurants and coffee shops. Sports clubs and gyms are conveniently situated to be accessible to residents and employees alike.
Sustainable development is promoted and green building practice is encouraged. Foot paths run alongside the eight kilometres of canals while the environs are landscaped with natural vegetation to provide a green lung for the area. Intaka Island, a 16 hectare wetland nature reserve in the centre of the development is home to a great variety of plant and bird species, some of them endangered and appearing on the Red Data List. The wetlands also act as a biological filter, naturally cleaning the water in the canals. Intaka is a popular environmental education centre as well as a peaceful retreat in the midst of the bustling Century City node.
Excellent private and government schools are available, while Old Mutual Business School and Damelin College offer tertiary training. Intercare Century City Medical Centre and Day Hospital provides medical services. Lagoon and Milnerton Beaches are about five kilometres away with the nearest wine farms just 10 to 15 kilometres distant.
Commercial property
Century City continues to attract big-name multinationals. Philip Morris SA, Panasonic and Chevron have located their head offices in the area while Old Mutual Private Wealth, The Business Centre, Aurecon, Electro-Mechanica, Horizon Capital, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW are also located there. “Many of the buildings are Green Star certified, so they enjoy higher occupancy rates as they prove to be more cost effective,” advises Grimbeek. Century City Connect, a high speed, open access fibre optic connection is available to businesses and residents alike with a variety of service providers and packages available. Security is excellent; the whole area is fenced; control gates are located at each entrance and 24-hour CCTV cameras are monitored by a dedicated security company which also shows a visible presence on the streets.
Office vacancies in the Century City currently stand at 10.1% - a notable increase on the vacancy rates only 3 months prior, where the vacancy rate then stood at 8%, and as low as 7.4% only six months prior. Although this represents a substantial jump in the vacancy rate for the area, the increase is mainly due to the current +-8,000m² of Premium office space available in the area. This represents 12.7% of all the Premium office space analysed in the area, where Premium Office vacancies previously stood at 2% (only 3 months prior). Given all that the Century City area has to offer, one can expect these available space to be snapped up over the short term and the Premium vacancy rate to decrease slightly going forward. Together with the improved B grade space (which improved from 9.5% to 9.4%), and the A grade space (which increased marginally from 8.9% to 9.6%, there is no cause for panic in the area, with an improved vacancy rate expected going forward.
Future development
The redevelopment of the Ratanga Junction theme park will include a 120 000 square metre mixed use node comprising of residential apartments, an up-market retirement village, a hotel, restaurant and offices surrounding lakes and a public park. This will be an important new attraction for Century City and it is thought that many of the water sports, Park Run and other events will eventually move to this area. A pedestrian bridge will link the current Bridgeways precinct to the Ratanga precinct. The retirement village is due to be launched in the second quarter of 2019.
In conclusion
“Century City is an important business hub which is forging ahead despite a slightly slower market trend. It should continue to grow in size and strength as businesses realise the great advantage of relocating to this modern, convenient and ecologically designed development,” Grimbeek concludes.
