With the launch this month of Phase 2 of Evergreen Muizenberg, Amdec Property Development’s flagship project for its national retirement lifestyle village brand, the company brings to the market 140 finance-friendly apartments, together with expanded lifestyle and healthcare facilities.

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Phase 2, to be built at a cost of an estimated R120-million, will comprise a three-storey building that will accommodate studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as a lifestyle centre offering many facilities sought-after by active over-55s: heated indoor swimming pool, gym with the latest exercise equipment, library, hair salon, restaurant, coffee bar and spacious open-plan lounge and dining room. A games room opening onto a timber deck and braai area, secure basement parking and a laundromat will also be provided.

Another key feature of the 14 000sqm building will be a frail care wing. Although Evergreen Muizenberg already has a fully operational clinic and frail care centre, built in Phase 1, these will be moved to larger premises and provision made for further future expansion. A choice of three managed health care levy packages will allow residents to obtain escalating levels of care as required, according to Amdec sales consultant Jayne Hendry.

There will be two lifts to service all floors, including the parking level, as the development has been designed to be accessible to wheelchairs throughout.

The new apartment block, designed by well-known Cape Town architect, Hannes Bouwer, will comprise two wings linked by a glass-walled, semi-circular area that will overlook a central courtyard walkway, allowing natural light to stream in. Residents will have access to a small communal lounge and reading room on each floor of the central node in addition to the extensive community facilities on the ground floor.

The new building will complement the stylish houses completed in Phase 1, which were designed by the same architect. The existing homes, together with Evergreen’s lifestyle and health care offerings, and location - a stroll away from the beach in the coastal village of Muizenberg in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, and close to amenities including theatres, nature reserves and shops – recently won international recognition in the Best Retirement Development category of CNBC Arabia’s 2009 Europe & Africa Property Awards.

The timber deck to be built outside the lifestyle facilities on the ground floor will also visually link the new part of the development to the existing one, where a timber boardwalk, which won a national gold award from the Timber Frame Builders’ Association last year, is the centrepiece of Evergreen’s 2.7 hectares of landscaped grounds.

Taking cognisance of the financial constraints that potential buyers are experiencing in the current economic climate, Amdec has introduced the contemporary, lock-up-and-go apartments at prices starting from R599 000, with the aim of making the lifestyle enjoyed by the development’s current residents accessible to a wider community.

All the apartments, which are being sold off-plan, have been designed to maximise space, natural light, and the views of mountains, sea or central courtyard areas that will be seen from every apartment.

The studios have been modelled along the lines of top international hotel accommodation, says Hendry. “One of the design features will be a central console unit on which a plasma television screen can be installed and pivoted to face either the sleeping area or living area. This will visually separate the two areas.”

Like the one- and -two bedroomed apartments, all the studios will have generous bathrooms with showers large enough to accommodate a wheelchair, as well as modern kitchens with built-in cupboards and quality finishes, including granite countertops and stainless steel cooking facilities. Built-in cupboards will also be provided in all the bedrooms.

To make the apartments even more financially accessible, Amdec has partnered with Lombard Insurance to enable buyers to secure units in the development at the current prices without paying a cash deposit upfront. Through the Deposit Advantage Guarantee, an insurance product recently introduced in South Africa, buyers can defer payment of the deposit and instead pay the full purchase price of the property on transfer.

Through this insurance product, Lombard, a member of the Hollard Group, will provide a guarantee to Amdec that the full amount of the deposit will be paid, says Antony Solomon of Lombard Insurance. “The buyer will pay a one-off premium to Lombard Insurance, which will underwrite and issue the guarantee for a term of three, six, 12 or 24 months, in lieu of a cash deposit.”

If a prospective purchaser’s capital is tied up in investments or an existing property, the Deposit Advantage Guarantee can be a significantly less expensive option than accessing cash via a bond or through bridging finance, says Solomon, an Australian attorney who introduced the concept to South Africa after relocating to Cape Town. He adds that the product has been widely used in Australia since the late 1980s, and has subsequently been made available in New Zealand, the USA and UK.

In applying for a deposit guarantee, the prospective buyer must show that he has the funds required to complete the property purchase and that these will be available by the date of transfer. If the application criteria are met, most applications can be processed within 24 hours, Solomon says.

For more information contact Jayne Hendry on 083 324 0323 or Nino Boehm on 082 320 2101 or click here to visit the website.

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