Origin Park is a mini warehousing and distribution scheme that forms part of Atterbury’s landmark Richmond Park development in the Western Cape. The Park will be developed on a sectional title basis and interested parties will have the option to either purchase the leasehold title, or lease the unit. We heard from Gerrit van den Berg about the decision to include opportunities for smaller businesses in the growing development.
Why the decision to also include mini units in the development? Is that a trend in new developments?
While marketing the development, mostly to bigger users, we received numerous enquiries from smaller users. It became clear that we needed to incorporate an offering suitable to prospective tenants requiring smaller spaces, in order to service the entire spectrum of market demand.
What percentage of Richmond Park will comprise these mini units, and how many units can be accommodated? How big are these units?
Origin Park is a 13 000sqm development, with 25 units, ranging from 355sqm to 980sqm including the mezzanine floors. Origin Park constitutes about three percent of the total development.
What has been the progress since Origin Park was launched in February? Have you signed any tenants yet – if so, who, and what kind of business do they represent?
It was well received, especially from an owner-occupier perspective. We have secured seven deals so far and are currently in negotiations with a further four possible users. These units can either be bought based on a sale of leasehold title, or leased from the developer, but we find that typically people who want these smaller spaces prefer to own their units. It makes sense; it’s much more cost effective having a space in a mini-unit sectional-title scheme than owning a free-standing building. The operating costs, such as security, landscaping, insurance and so on is shared by the owners. They are mostly warehouse-type users as the allowable office component is about 15% of the space. These are small-industry businesses.
And in the rest of the Richmond Park development? What is currently happening on site; how is the construction of the first tenants’ buildings progressing?
Cape Fruit Coolers was the first tenant to sign up, shortly followed by Mustek and CTM. The Mustek building was first to get going and is due for completion in August this year – right now the structure is 90% completed and the roof is being installed. Bulk earthworks for Cape Fruit Coolers were completed last week and the site was handed over to the main contractor, Isipani Construction, on 11 May. CTM is also expected to commence with construction next week; they are awaiting plan approval from the local authority.
Have you signed on any other tenants yet?
We have secured three further deals and are currently busy with the final sale of leasehold title agreement negotiations. We can share client details as soon as the negotiations are completed. Right now we are also prioritising the planned retail centre, Richmond Corner, and if all goes according to plan we should be able to commence with construction towards the last quarter of the year.
