MP's moving to 'SA's Capitol Hill'?

South African parliamentarians vacate Acasia Park due to 5,000 houses being built and occupy their very own Capitol Hill right next to parliament in Cape Town's Roeland Street. This is the dream of Irish developer Eurocape, which is responsible for the Mandela Rhodes development and the Taj Hotel in Cape Town's CBD.

Martin Kearns, Euroscape CEO, and Frank Gormley, chairman of the company, said in an information session on Friday that the biggest challenge is to get politicians to share in this vision.

Eurocape owns 7,500sqm of a massive street block in Roeland Street. It borders on land and buildings that belong to the Western Cape provincial government and an historic garden managed by Iziko museums.

"Why do parliamentarians have to be transported back and forth from Acasia Park if they and their families can stay right next to parliament? This will be a well-designed housing, commercial and lifestyle axis in tune with Melrose Arch in Johannesburg and besides, Roeland Street is such an undignified entry point to parliament instead of the Champs-Élysées it could possibly become," Kearns says.

He says Acasia Park is much more suited to housing for people who work in the surrounding commercial and industrial areas such as Epping, Goodwood and Century City.

Eurocape has already gotten permission for the R2bn development of its land in Roeland Street and is busy negotiating with, among others, foreign hotel operators and other potential investors over investments. Plans include a parking area for 2,500 cars.

"The politicians have, however, been sending us from pillar to post for quite some time and nobody wants to make a decision. It will be a pity if Cape Town misses this opportunity," Kearns says.

Gormley, who flew specially from Ireland to SA for the meeting, says the project could provide Cape Town with its first Capitol Hill and unlock the value of that part of the city in the process. The state land presently provides shade net parking and premises for ambulances.

"We talked about development in Cape Town CBD six years ago, and we were ridiculed overseas and told that we were wasting our time and money. Moreover, not one SA bank was interested," says Gormley.

Alex Boraine from Cape Town's Urban Renewal District points out that the city's history is replete with partnerships between the public and private sectors, such as those involved in the V&A Waterfront and Cape Town International Conference Centre.

Helen Zille, Western Cape premier, says "we will do everything within the confines of the law to help".

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