Following hard on the heels of their sold-out River’s Edge 84 unit development, sited on the Liesbeek River in Rondebosch, Cape Town and completed in August 2011, Rawson Developers are going ahead with a new 40 unit development right next door. This will be known as River Song and the official launch is scheduled to take place on the 4th of August 2012.
This development will be six stories high but in this case the block will be L-shaped. It will have only 40 units, just over half of which have already been sold. The majority of buyers are from Rawson’s loyal buy-to-let investor base, who have shown a particular liking for the company’s Rondebosch projects because rentals in this area are so good.
Trevor Weston-Green, Rawson Developers’ Marketing Manager and Strategist, who brokered the purchase of the four free-standing homes on the original site, said that despite already providing nearly 500 sectional title units in three Rondebosch developments, Rawson Developers have found that there is still a huge demand for this type of accommodation. The current development, he predicted, will be sold out within only a few months.
Paul Henry, Managing Director of Rawson Developers, said that once again the company had used Gordon Hart as the architect and will be providing one or two bedroom apartments in sizes from 43m² to 93 m². These, said Henry, will come in eight different configurations, two of which will incorporate loft floors. All except the largest units will have small balconies and some 75% will have the same panoramic views of Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain that made the River’s Edge development so popular.
Finishes, said Henry, will be well above average for units in this price range and will include 450 x 450mm floor tiles, superwood cupboard doors in the kitchens, and aluminium framed sliding doors and windows.
Apart from the views, said Henry, the big attractions of River Song are likely to be its closeness to UCT (it is in fact only 1km away from the campus) and to a number of excellent schools, as well as, the Rondebosch CBD, the city centre, the mountain and, last but not least, the Liesbeek River trail which runs right past the site and is open to bicycles as well as joggers and walkers. It also has several attractive picnic spots along its route.
A further attraction, said Henry, is that River Song’s security is being taken very seriously indeed. The site will be enclosed, protected by electric fencing and guards will be on duty around the clock. Access to the building will be given by biometric finger print recognition or by a resident accepting the visitor introduced to him by the security guard.
The prices at River Song are pitched from R895 990 to R2 150 990. No VAT or transfer duty is payable as the sale deed is signed directly with the developer.
Hand-overs at River Song are expected to begin in June 2013. Rawson Construction is already on the site demolishing the old homes there.
Buy-to-let investors, said Henry, can probably expect a 7% return from day one, i.e. R6000 to R8000 per month per unit. At this stage, he said, it looks as if the annual capital appreciation is likely to be in the region of 8%.
Weston-Green said experience had shown that if initial contact with buyers is made via the website (in this case www.river-song.co.za) buyers are likely to arrive better informed, more confident and more ready to make a decision. The River Song website has ultra-realistic computer generated graphics showing not only how exactly the completed block will look on the site but also a number of very attractive interior renderings, including computer generated graphics of all the layouts.
