The value of establishing a sound reputation for fast sales, excellent capital appreciation and satisfactory rentals on any residential development project has once again been demonstrated by an exceptionally fast take-up at Rawson Developers’ R106 million development, ‘The Premier’, to be built on Main Road, Rondebosch on a 3,319 m2 site which represents the consolidation of nine separate erven.
Within four weeks of the first official emailing to Rawson Developers’ 3,000 plus client base, 75 of the 79 apartments in the forthcoming development were sold – and at the time of writing it looked very much if the remaining four would be taken up by end of this month.
Rawson Developers’ Sales Manager, Eugene Batts, said that these have been the fastest sales ever achieved by Rawson Developers in their 21 year history.
“We had,” he said, “become used to selling out prior to completion, something seen both at River Song and The Beaumont (these were similar developments in roughly the same Cape Town Cape Peninsula precincts), “but this was the first time that we have achieved complete sell out prior to starting work on site.”
Judging by the offers already coming in, said Batts, apartments in ‘The Premier’ have already appreciated by some 15% in value. At launch the bachelor/studio units sold from R893,000, the one bedroom units from R1,2 million and the two bedroom units from R1,9 million. Already, it is rumoured, certain mountain-facing units are attracting resale offers of close to R3 million.
The strongest demand, said Batts, has been for the single bedroom units. About half the buyers, he said, are buy-to-let investors and ‘obviously’ they see their tenants being young professionals and UCT students as this development is less than 2 km from the university campus and 8,6 km from the Cape Town CBD. Among the buy-to-occupy takers there is a good mix of young professional and managerial types along with older individuals, some of whom are now downscaling for retirement.
Asked to explain the popularity of ‘The Premier’, Batts said that its position is “as good as you will ever get on a project of this kind”.
“Consider for a moment how well sited this development is.” he said, “Quite apart from its closeness to UCT, it is also within two minutes’ walk of the Newlands rugby stadium, the ever popular Dean Street Arcade, Newlands station on the suburban railway line and within five minute’ drive of Cavendish Square and a wide variety of mountain walks. It is also, of course, close to the Baxter Theatre.”
Batts said that the views which will open up from all floors are especially attractive from the apartments on the northern and western sides. These, he said, will look onto Devil’s Peak and Newlands Forest.
“The design is also very much a plus factor on this project,” said Batts. “It is quite possibly the most impressive that Rawson Developers have yet handled. To take advantage of the beautiful vistas afforded by the impressive natural beauty of the Table Mountain range, Gordon Hart Architects have set back the top three floors which allows for large open air terraces.”
Private outdoor space, says Batts, has become a very precious commodity these days, especially in bigger developments of this kind. By dedicating more space on these levels to open air terraces, not only are the future occupants of the apartments given a greater quality of life, but it will also allow the building as a whole to mould its own personality. These terraces, supported by an attractive set of four floors below which play with ideas of symmetry and voids/recesses, and are held together with elegant round columns helping to soften the Main Road elevation, are backed up by larger than normal window and door openings, with floor to ceiling height glazing to make sure the apartments are still well lit by sunlight internally.
The allocation of space for parking, he says, has also become an issue over the years. The architects have been able to side-step this issue by not only providing over and above the number of parking bays required to service the 79 units comfortably, but also by doing this without the need for the construction of a basement. Vehicles are parked on ground floor with the seven levels of apartments above, and thanks to a naturally sloping site and minimal excavation, the parking level will be out of view of the public passing by, allowing Main Road the opportunity to be enhanced through quality design and not developed through the dictatorship of parking requirements.
For further information please contact Eugene Batts on (021) 658 7100.
