A R400-million, 16-storey building is to be built at De Waterkant in Cape Town, an historic district that has few buildings that are more than two-storeys high.
The council has approved plans for the project, known as The Mirage, even though the De Waterkant Civic Association objected to them.
The project was first mooted in 2003 but it has been dogged by legal problems as De Waterkant Civic Association objected to the development and tried to prevent it from going ahead. The civic association says that now the planning approval has been granted there is nothing more that they can do to prevent it going ahead.
Cape Townestate agent Robert Steffanuto says the new development will be good for the suburb, as it will be built on a vacant site that used to house 10 buildings and two separate developments on it. The site is in Chiappini Street.
The building is testing the limits of the city's by-laws, coming in at 50 centimetres under the maximum height allowed for buildings there.
Steffanuto says that he believes the development will be good for residents in De Waterkant and may push up property prices in the area.
The project will contain several parking levels, a luxury hotel, offices, shops and residential apartments.
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