The residential suburb of Bellville is a well-known, well-travelled area of the greater Cape Town metropolitan that boasts fantastic views of the Cape’s famous winelands and the mountains surrounding Stellenbosch. It is dissected by the N1, and acts as a mid-point between Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Paarl. Neighbouring suburbs include: Durbanville, Brackenfell and Parow, which is bordered on the east by the R300 which connects the N1 and the N2.
While positioned a fair distance away from Cape Town’s city centre and the Ports of Cape Town – some 24km from both – it is only about a 20 minute drive from the airport. A cool fact is that in the heart of Bellville, on the corner of two notable roads – Voortrekker and Durban – lies the Twelve-mile Rockstone, a historical monument that marks its exact distance from Cape Town.
In terms of transport, the train stations found in Bellville lie mostly in the southern area of the suburb – two of which, Unibell and Pentech, provide easy access to the University of the Western Cape and the Bellville campus of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The Greyhound and Intercape bus stations are located just south of the N1 along the R302, which runs vertically through the upper half of Bellville. As well as the two universities, the suburb is also home to great schools like Bellville Primary and High School – which are both a five minute drive from Bellville Central – and Boston Private School.
Bellville while predominantly residential, is – however – also an area of notable office space opportunity. Unlike most suburbs, Bellville is home to all grades of office space and falls short only to Cape Town’s CBD when it comes to rental space available. According to the 2017 SAPOA report, office grades P, A, B and C in Bellville boast 10,600m2; 369,797m2; 161,441m2; and 21,618m2 in rental space respectively. That’s a whopping 563,456m2 in total. Vacancy rates across all grades comes in at 5.1% – however, the P-grade office space is on a high vacancy rate of 39.1%.
As for the cost of office space, it is much cheaper than areas like Claremont, Cape Town CBD and Century City. Grades P, A, B and C cost, respectively, on average 178, 120, 98 and 61 rand per metre squared – whereas the same office space in Claremont will cost you on average 255 ,185, 130, and 75 rand per metre squared for grades P, A, B and C respectively. Bellville also has, aside from Cape Town’s CBD again, the most office space available for leasing at 28,617m2. It does unfortunately offer limited opportunities for greenfield developments which, according to the SAPOA report, could underpin short term rental growth.
While the suburb is indeed an opportunistic space for office rental, one should not, however, rule out its potent retail sector. Being a residential area, it is full of restaurants; coffee shops; shopping centres and malls; fast-food joints; necessity-driven amenities like automobile shops, plumbers and electricians; and big multinationals like Pick n Pay and Vodacom. A growing demand for all forms of retail always accompanies a strong middle class – which Bellville is not short of.
Besides the area’s close proximity to Cape Town’s beaches, it has a lot of recreational activities on offer. Have a round of golf at its own 18-hole course or visit the Tygerberg Nature Reserve, which hosts one of the few surviving pockets of the highly threatened Swartland Shale Renosterveld vegetation type. You could also visit various malls like the Tyger Valley Centre, the Middestad Mall, or the High Street shopping complex just off Durban Road – or pay homage at The Mayibuye Centre, where you’ll find a collection of material from South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle.
Rawson Commercial currently has offices countrywide and will gladly assist you in finding the right commercial property for your needs. Please contact (021) 658 7100 and we will refer you to your nearest office.
