Commercial project taking shape in KZN

A new leisure and commercial development is currently being developed on Umhlanga Ridge in Durban. The Holiday Inn Express and prime grade offices will be occupied by BoE, with the balance of the land remaining vacant for future development. The hotel and offices are due for completion by April and October 2010 respectively.

Nedbank Corporate Property Finance has part funded the project on behalf of Zenprop Property Holdings.

The hotel is a 240-roomed, 3-star Holiday Inn Express being developed in conjunction with ISO Leisure Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd (ISO Leisure), who will be co-owners of the hotel development.

The operating company for the hotel is a wholly owned entity of ISO Leisure Holdings, which is a newly formed entity to house the roll-out of the Holiday Inn Express hotels across the country.

The office development comprises a three-storey office complex with a total gross lettable area (GLA) of 6,420sqm. The development is split into two blocks, with each floor being joined by a covered link and parking provided at basement levels. BoE, a division of Nedbank Retail, will occupy 73% of the GLA in this development.

"As this is the best remaining parcel of sea-facing land in KwaZulu-Natal, any developments here will escalate in value over the medium to long term," says Brian Roberts, divisional executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance.

The property is very well located within an area known as the "Umhlanga Triangle". The site has frontage onto Umhlanga Rocks Drive, Ncondo Place and Ntusi Road, with the access being off Umhlanga Rocks Drive and Ntusi Road. The node forms part of the greater La Lucia Office Estate and Umhlanga Newtown Precinct, which is home to premier gated office parks, the Gateway Theatre of Shopping and the adjacent Newtown mixed use node.

A number of new developments are underway or in the planning stage, which include the two properties above and new office premises for Investec, Vodacom, BDO, Shepstone Wylie and Cox Yeats.

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