Neighbourhood 1 JULY 2018
PROPERTY & LIFESTYLE
In the bag Morningside’s City View Shopping Centre offers visitors more than just convenience, page 4
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SUBURB FOCUS: GREYVILLE
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Greyville Here’s what’s happening in property in the area WORDS: NICOLA JENVEY IMAGES: MICAELA DE FREITAS & GOOGLE MAPS
*Map not to scale
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reyville lies just below the ridge of Durban, essentially between the traditional central business district (CBD) and the more upmarket residential area considered the Berea. On its southern edge are the Botanic Gardens, Africa’s oldest surviving botanical garden, having been established in 1849 as a botanic station for the trial of agricultural crops, while the northern edge flanks the neighbourhood of Morningside. Originally part of the huge marshy wastelands that engulfed the low-lying areas around the Durban harbour before the land was drained for viable inhabitancy, Greyville was named after the Cape governor Sir George Grey. Two of the prominent roads in the neighbourhood today still honour Prince Albert Victor. As Queen Victoria’s grandson, he was the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, and Clarence and Avondale roads bear witness to a royal family member who died aged only 23. Anyone living within the Greyville neighbourhood cannot ignore the Greyville Race Course as a key characteristic. The race course is Durban’s first – and therefore longestrunning – sports venue and regularly hosts race meetings on Wednesday and Friday evenings or over the weekends. When the track is not resounding with galloping hooves, it resonates with exercise enthusiasts running and walking either alone or with their dogs.
I love the vibe that is Greyville – there is always something happening that makes living here exciting and driving the energy of a community environment
Locally the Vodacom Durban July, taking place this year on 7 July, carries a weight comparable to Britain’s Royal Ascot. It’s a culmination after months of planning to display high fashion, exciting horse racing, food, champagne and corporate hospitality. The main race takes place over 2,2km and the final four races are run under floodlights to add another dimension to the horse-racing experience.
PREVESHNIE NAIDOO, RESIDENT
Property Residential properties in Greyville traverse the housing spectrum, from freestanding homes and secure complexes, to the most PUBLISHED BY TIMES MEDIA PROPERTY PUBLISHING 1st Floor, Block H, Sable Square cnr Bosmansdam and Ratanga Roads Milnerton, Cape Town
DO: • Catch Goldfish live on 6 July at the Durban Botanic Gardens. • Discover the William Campbell picture collection at the Killie Campbell Museum. • Play a round at the Royal Durban Golf Club. • Get your adrenaline pumping at the Friday night racing at Greyville Race Course. • Find hidden gems at the Car Boot Flea Market. • Do all your shopping at City View Shopping Centre in Morningside.
EAT: • Market Restaurant, Morningside: for a relaxed breakfast, lunch or supper • 9th Avenue Bistro, Morningside: for modern dishes with a Mediterranean influence • Joops Place, Essenwood: for great-tasting grills • Butcher Boys Florida Road: for well-aged, grain-fed steaks • The Green Mango, Morningside: for Japanese and Thai dishes • Mamma Luciana’s, Florida Road: for traditional Italian cuisine • Freedom Cafe, Windermere: for contemporary cafe fare
HOSPITALS: • • • •
City Hospital Netcare Parklands Hospital Life Entabeni Hospital Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital
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prominent feature: the dominance of large blocks of flats.
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This means there are opportunities for first-time homebuyers to secure their opening rung on the property ladder, young families to expand their living space, and investors wanting to acquire residential units to let while potentially also living in the neighbourhood.
The Durban July isn’t the only reason to visit the Greyville Racecourse with locals flocking to the race course for Friday night racing. Greyville is also home to the Royal Durban Golf Course, one of the few golf courses to be situated right by a horse track.
Greyville is laid out in a grid-like format following the geographical contours with the avenues running parallel to the sea. This affords property owners, particularly those inhabiting apartments on the higher floors, views of the Indian Ocean and Greyville Race Course.
The area also boasts the Botanic Gardens, renowned for some of the finest collections of botanic species anywhere in Africa. Intermittently, the gardens are the venue for music concerts, either by local or international artists, or by the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Schooling There’s a myriad of educational options within the Greyville neighbourhood, mostly government schools with a solid reputation, but also private educational facilities. Schools include Greyville Primary School, Clarence Primary School, Orient Islamic School, Sastri College, St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, Futura High School and Durban Girls Secondary School. The various Durban University of Technology (DUT) campuses in the area, as well as the University of South Africa (Unisa) campus, are the dominant education facilities for tertiary training.
Residents have the added advantage of having two of Durban’s best-known restaurants on their doorstep – Joop’s Place and 9th Avenue Bistro. Both tick all the fine-dining boxes and have become landmarks in this suburb. For those who want to kick back and relax with something not quite so fancy, there are numerous coffee shops and restaurants. There are a number of shopping centres nearby to choose from, including City View Shopping Centre, Windermere Centre and Musgrave Centre. The area is also close to a number of factory outlets which generally sell well-known brands at good prices.
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My business neighbourhood Baseera Rajah shares her passion for baking with little ones in the Durban North area WORDS: TIVANIA MOODLEY IMAGE: SUPPLIED
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t’s no secret that kids love homemade cookies. Getting them involved in the baking process is a great way to allow them to explore their creative side. Baseera Rajah has a natural flair for creativity and turned her passion into a business, Cherry on the Top, offering homemade specialty biscuits together with a Little Bakers workshop designed for kids. Q: How did your business start? A: My passion for baking started seven years ago after I had kids because I wanted to create something special for their birthdays. I began experimenting with extraordinary biscuits which quickly became popular, so three years ago I began baking professionally as Cherry on the Top. My kids wanted to get involved so I would give them biscuits to decorate. It was at that point that I thought of introducing a workshop for kids
American Speakers Sunday Times Neighbourhood Ad 27 June 2018 curves.indd 1
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to have fun learning to bake and decorate beautiful confectionery. Q: Why did you choose this area to set up shop? A: I work from home in Durban North. Working from home works for me because it allows me to work around my family’s schedule. Durban North is also a great area to be based in as everything is conveniently situated. It’s also a family-orientated area with lots of activities available, which I love. Q: Why are the premises ideally suited to your business? A: I have the luxury of establishing my own working hours. I also have a big yard, which is ideal to host my workshops as kids love the space and they get to work comfortably. Q: Who are your neighbours? A: I live in a residential area, so mostly families. There are also quite a few guest houses in the area. Q: What are the rental/sales prices like in this area? A: One of the perks of working from home is that I save on rent. The property prices around me are relatively high and when working from home, your overheads are less. I knew I could make use of my spacious backyard to host my kids’ workshops.
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Q: How many people go through your store each day? A: My baked treats are made to order, so it depends on the quantity I’ve taken on. The workshops are held during school holidays where I see between 40 to 80 kids. Q: Do you have any expansion plans? A: Yes, I’m considering an advanced workshop for teenagers as well as planning adult classes for the royal icing cookie decoration due to the large number of requests I receive. Q: Do you operate online as well? A: Yes, I have active Instagram (@cherry_on_the_top_by_ baseera) and Facebook (goo.gl/ EBpFNB) pages that provide information on my workshops and showcase my treats. Q: What’s your most popular item? A: My most popular items are the trending cream tarts and my royal icing biscuits. My workshops are very popular during the school holidays.
SEE FOR YOURSELF: Cherry on the Top 078 304 8538 goo.gl/EBpFNB
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PROPERTY NEWS RETIREMENT FOCUS
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The Berg River Bridge opens
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he Berg River Bridge at Val de Vie Estate in the Western Cape was officially opened by the executive mayor of the Drakenstein Municipality, councillor Conrad Poole, on Thursday, 21 June. Martin Venter, founder and CEO, Val de Vie Estate, said at the opening event, “Building a bridge is symbolic of human progress. We are proud today to open the Berg River Bridge and believe that this addition to our estate is not only to the benefit of our residents, but in favour of our entire community.” The Berg River Bridge, the first private bridge of this scale in South
Africa, connects the estate with the R45 Simondium Road via the new Berg River gatehouse. This introduces a mere 30-minute travelling time to Cape Town International Airport and Cape Town, 16 minutes to Stellenbosch and 3 minutes to Paarl Main Road. Poole expressed his gratitude towards Val de Vie Estate for investing in the infrastructure of the municipality and said, “Drakenstein Municipality is one of the fastest growing and financially sound municipalities in South Africa, and our valley is well on its way to becoming world class.”
Prices are down in prime residential areas Research group New World Wealth published its quarterly residential update for South Africa. As part of the group’s research, it looks at the price of property per square metre in prime property areas across the country. It identified these three prime locations: Prime area: Central Sandton Per m2 2017: R34,000 Per m2 2018: R33,000 200m2 apartment price: R6,8m
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Neighbourhood
The hearth of the home What type of fireplace works in your home? WORDS: NICOLA JENVEY
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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ver since man harnessed the power of fire, the concept of a fireplace as a central feature in a home has been vigorously pursued. Today the appeal comes in its heating properties rather than the kitchen hearth. Typically, today’s most popular fireplaces are the traditional brick and mortar design, gas, cast iron or electric ones. Each option has its merits, providing a unique experience within home decor and its performance in line with what homeowners seek from their hearths. Obviously, the home’s style plays a significant role in dictating an appropriate fireplace.
Traditional bricks and mortar
2 Prime area: Atlantic Seaboard Per m2 2017: R75,000 Per m2 2018: R72,000 200m2 apartment price: R15m
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Prime area: Umhlanga Per m2 2017: R36,000 Per m2 2018: R37,000 200m2 apartment price: R7,2m
Although prices were down in the first quarter of 2018 in Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard and Joburg’s Central Sandton, Umhlanga in KZN has seen a rise.
SA’s ‘Golden Triangle’ of prime office space
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outh Africa’s prime office locations are linked by a golden triangle from Umhlanga/ La Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal across to Sandton’s CBD in Gauteng and down to the Western Cape’s Century City. The latest office market reports released by Broll Property Group, brings these three locations into sharp focus. Sandton continues to reflect positive, albeit slower, demand for prime office space. It’s becoming increasingly hard, however, for those seeking premium grade office space for their businesses to ignore the advantages offered in the Century City and Umhlanga/La Lucia nodes, comments Broll in its reports. Century City’s comprehensive perimeter security fencing, eco-friendly landscape, smooth integration into the Cape Town transport system, and a wide range of amenities, have secured the attention of large corporate tenants. This includes businesses in professional services, consulting, engineering,
IT, marketing, financial services and the advertising and media sector. According to Broll’s Century City Office Market report, vacancies currently sit at 8%. By contrast, Umhlanga/ La Lucia has an average vacancy rate of 5%, with Sandton at 16%. The Umhlanga/La Lucia node presents a contrasting environment to both Century City and Sandton. There’s enormous development in Umhlanga Ridgeside, New Town Centre as well as in neighbouring Cornubia and the Sibaya Precinct to the north, all of which open fresh opportunities for tenants and landlords alike. Century City and Umhlanga/La Lucia are riding high as is evident in the high quality of new office space and associated amenities coming on line in these competing regions. However, Sandton’s over-supply and the resulting pressure on rentals have sparked an innovation trend, says Broll, with the addition of quality mixed-used projects.
Traditional fireplaces offer homes with a decorative focal point and can become a selling point for buyers seeking out a touch of a gentler era amid the helterskelter of fast-paced modern living. They are also energy efficient and sustainable as they consume dry wood rather than electricity and, in leafy neighbourhoods where trees are regularly trimmed, the cut wood is often left on verges
for consumption as firewood. However, the disadvantages of traditional wood-burning fireplaces are the high maintenance levels required in cleaning the grate and sweeping the chimney; the requirement for storage space for the logs and the extra vigilance when living with an open flame and hearth. An alternative that still provides the beauty of woodburning, is enclosed fireplaces. Calore CEO Paolo Carlone says the sunlight feeding trees effectively creates the world’s oldest solar batteries in the form of biomass, and biomass energy can be released by incinerating plant material. However, unlike burning fossil fuels, biomass is renewable within human time – decades or centuries – while fossil fuels require millennia to rejuvenate. He says the popularity in the eco-conscious European market has seen a shift towards biomass pellet stoves and manufacturers have the responsibility to change consumer behaviour by offering greener energy alternatives.
Gas and electric fireplaces These fireplaces warm up a room as swiftly as flicking the switch.
Gas fireplaces typically burn more cleanly and create more heat at a lower cost. Like electric fireplaces, they’re much easier to install. Electric fireplaces don’t generate the same heat strength as traditional or gas fireplaces, but are eco-friendly and energy efficient since they don’t emit any fumes. They also don’t require installing chimneys or ventilation systems and are ideal for tenants unwilling to invest in infrastructure to a home they don’t own.
Stainless-steel and cast-iron fireplaces
Cast-iron fireplaces – or potbelly stoves – are the answer to heating up smaller homes as their design traverses every shape and size and they can be placed virtually anywhere provided there’s the required ventilation to a chimney or directly outside. Hydrofire owner Kristo Nikolov says stainlesssteel options offer a sleek, modern look and better shaping in design. “In contrast, many cast-iron models have an old-fashioned charm and is an especially suitable material for fireplaces because it retains the heat longer than traditional fireplaces and emits a steady warmth long after the fire has died,” he says.
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The development is well underway with residents living in their homes and more under construction
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any elements of the multibillion rand, mixed-use development at Cornubia near Mt Edgecombe have been completed and, as projected, it has had a positive impact on the local community, particularly for the beneficiaries of the eThekwini Municipality’s residential component.
Cornubia residences occupied
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1:47 PM WORDS: CANDICE BOTHA
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“There is a huge backlog of housing and the country is currently faced with the phenomena of rapid urbanisation due to people looking to improve their living conditions and to find employment or business opportunities,” says eThekwini Municipality’s acting head of communications Mandla Nsele. “There are numerous informal settlements within the eThekwini Municipality, as well as people renting in backyards, so there is always a large pool of potential beneficiaries for BNG (breaking new ground) houses.” The Cornubia development has relieved some of this backlog with Phase 1A, consisting of 482 fully-subsidised units, having been completed and all units occupied. “To date, approximately 450 houses have been transferred to beneficiaries,” says Nsele. “Phase 1B consists of 2,180 fully-subsidised housing units, of which approximately 1,900 are completed and occupied by beneficiaries. The balance of the units is under construction and are at various stages of completion.” Houses require infrastructure and much of this is in place, with the first
phase of the Blackburn water reservoir constructed and the Phoenix Waste Water Treatment works upgraded to accommodate the additional demands. “Other related engineering infrastructure like major roads and an electrical substation, are planned and implementation is imminent,” says Nsele. A temporary primary school to serve Phase 1A opened on 20 July 2015 and Nsele says that the permanent construction of this first social cluster, comprising a primary school, a clinic and a multi-purpose hall, has been designed and the tender advert is on the agenda. June saw the opening of a community retail facility in Phase 1A, which has been completed. “The eThekwini Business Support Unit has committed to mentoring and supporting successful tenants to become fully-fledged entrepreneurs,” says Nsele. There’s still work to be done with detailed planning for Phase 2A underway and the hope that construction will begin towards the end of 2018. The tender process of the planning professionals for Phase 2B is at the final stages and award is anticipated within the next quarter. “By the time of completion, Cornubia will provide approximately 25,000 housing opportunities, including approximately 15,000 fully-subsidised (BNG) units,” notes Nsele.
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Come and have a look at our luxury apartment 12733, available daily for viewings WARREN BECKER 082 302 3004 | warren@thehoughton.com ASHLEIGH SMITH 073 220 7357 | ashleigh@thehoughton.com Houghton on 12th, 53 Second Ave, Houghton | Show apartment 12733