By TOM MAPHAM
and KAREN TENNENT
CRANES and concrete mixers have descended on East London’s old beachfront suburb of the Quigney in what estate agents are calling a
redevelopment boom.
Demand for student accommodation, lodges and conference facilities close to the city centre has fuelled small-scale property development in the form of renovations and extensions by private homeowners and businesses.
The activity coincides with large-scale investment. Last week, the first phase of an ambitious plan to revamp East London’s beachfront got the green light.
The plans involve hotels, conference centres, a new beach and also a yacht basin.
The municipality has rezoned land surrounding the railway station to Buffalo City, and drawn up a plan to reroute the R72 to improve traffic flow. Plans are also afoot to create a vibrant intra-city university campus.
“What the council has planned is fantastic – the Quigney could become a catalyst for further growth in the rest of East London,” said independent estate agent Cecil Halley, a former director of the national Institute of Estate Agents.
This was after viewing a plan to upgrade the beachfront that was presented to the public by the city’s development agency (BCDA) this week.
Last year, over R1 billion worth of building plans were approved in East London.
This, combined with a healthy
property market, attracted Halley from Cape Town in January. Since then he has identified the Quigney
as a “boom area”.
Halley’s predictions for Quigney were echoed by ERA Sun Estates agent Penny Lindstrom.
“I think it is the most amazing thing that could happen,” she said in
reference to Quigney’s new development plans. Lindstrom believes the Quigney and beachfront are the “showcase of the city,” and that development there would be an “amazing boost” for the area.
However, she did not think prices would rise by more than 10 to 15 percent.
Business people have already
started investing by building in the suburb.
One businessman opened his third lodge in the Quigney three months ago, in response to increasing demand for accommodation from business people.
The cost of buying and refurbishing this latest property was over R3million, said the new owner, Ben Brownlie. The future was rosy so long as city authorities played their part and helped clean up the area, he said.
Michele Augustine, owner and manager of the Zonk’izizwe Conference Facility in Quigney, has also recognised the suburb’s potential.
“The beachfront is the pillar of the tourism industry ... you get a wonderful sense of being within the tourism hub,” she said.
Asked why she chose the Quigney, Augustine said: “The main attraction was the Urban Development Zoning (UDZ) of the Quigney.”
Introduced in 2004, the UDZ
aimed to encourage the development of older buildings by offering tax
rebates to investors. Quigney was one of the three major areas targeted by the plan, resulting in renewed
investment.
Eastern Cape Tourism chief executive Naledi Burwana-Bisiwe said the new developments in the area will have a positive impact on the city as a whole and on tourism.
With the upcoming Fifa 2010 World Cup, it was necessary for East London to embrace the remodelling of the Quigney.
“The kind of facilities that will be delivered by this development will bolster Buffalo City’s capacity to support the World Cup, whether as a base camp, a public viewing area or just in its readiness to absorb the spillover and displacement demands from host cities around the country,” Burwana-Bisiwe said.