The Corporate Property Finance division of Nedbank will this year be looking to extend the fields in which it operates and to handle a larger number of R100m plus loans, says Richard Edwards, Manager, New Business for this division.

The target for new loan approvals this year, says Edwards, is likely to be increased by a further 15 to 20% to a figure of around R6,5bn.

One of the first of several new retail projects to be backed by Nedbank in 2007 was announced this week. It will be a R150m three storey complex in the heart of Durbanville's fast expanding Sonstraal Heights.

"Our very experienced valuers," said Edwards, "have identified this as an area which will expand at a rate well above the Cape average. What is more, it is attracting mainly middle and upper middle income earners." The area, he says, has a well defined urban edge and is set, therefore, for further densification and a rise in land values.

The new centre is being developed by Ari Efstathiou, Chief Executive of Gain Property Developments and a longstanding Nedbank client. He, says Edwards, has a vast amount of retail centre experience going back some twenty years. Efstathiou is in partnership with Manoli Livanos, another Cape developer with many years retail development behind him.

The new centre will be named Cobble Walk. It will be on De Villiers Street, a main arterial road designated to connect Durban Road, the R300 extension and Langeberg Road. The architects, Messaris, Wapenaar and Philippides, have opted for a fresh contemporary style in which a central paved open air piazza will form a social hub for the entire precinct. It will be able to take overflow tables from the coffee shops, bistros and certain boutique shops fronting onto it and the open air facilities will be protected from the sun and wind by specially designed awnings. In addition, the whole space will be landscaped with indigenous fynbos plantings and South African trees.

Andre van der Merwe of the project managers, Andre van der Merwe & Associates, is managing the project. He said that the indigenous landscaping will be extended to the entire adjacent parking area and site perimeter. It is the intention that the landscaping will become an educational feature: the wide variety of indigenous plant species will be identified and tagged as a learning tool. Parking is provided for 450 vehicles in the open parking area complemented by a parking basement for a further 200 cars.

Cobble Walk will have 11 881sq m of lettable space on three levels with Checkers and Woolworths as anchor tenants on the main trading level and a Caltex service station on De Villiers Road.

The 71 line shops will, says Edwards, be selected to make this a true convenience lifestyle centre with restaurants, a pharmacy, computer, video and swimming pool and other shops.

Work by the contractor, Synthesis Projects, has started and is expected to be complete by October 2007. Quantity surveyors on the development are BTKM and the consulting engineers, BKS.

Edwards said that his evaluation team has reassured him that, in view of the predicted growth in the area, the new retail complex will be popular from an early stage and will be likely to command steadily increasing rentals. The transaction was negotiated by Joan Solms, a Senior Relationship Manager operating out of the Nedbank Corporate Property Finance's Bellville office in Tygerchambers in Durban Road.

For more information contact 021 402 8700.

Readers' Comments
I live around the corner from where this new development will be! We are so extremely happy to hear that there will be a little retail complex with a Checkers and Woolworths – this area needs this desperately. We just moved to Pinehurst (off Langeberg Road) from Royal Ascot, Milnerton – it might sound crazy – but we really missed the shopping centre, the Paddocks that was in Royal Ascot, and the convenience of a Woolies and a few nice other shops that we were actually deciding to move again. There is a Spar and a small shopping centre here – but it really is no great 'shakes' and really disappointing.

Thanks for the article and update and we can't wait for the opening of Cobble Walk. - Siobhan Perkins

Have a comment or question about this article? Email us now..

What's your home worth?
Want to know what the average home price is in your area? Visit PropertySPI and get the latest report on transfers and price movements in your street, suburb or sectional title scheme.

Property News
Click here for more property news articles or sign up now for our free news SMSs twice a day.

Need a blog?
Start your own blog with a free blog from 24.com.