Steyn City to invest another R50bn for next phase

06-03-2015
Read : 200 times
Fin24
Source

Cape Town – If investors fear putting money into a new-age city on the banks of low-income communities, then the billions invested in creating Steyn City and developing the surrounding areas ahead of the estate’s launch should quell that concern.

Douw Steyn and Steyn City Properties, who launched the estate on Thursday, have so far invested around R6.5bn in building infrastructure in and around the state-of-the-art kingdom. The developers plan to invest another R50bn in the next phase. This will fund junior and senior schools, two top-tier shopping precincts, a business park, a medical centre, a retirement home and a private bus service.

Steyn is the billionaire South African insurance entrepreneur who made his bucks through SA-based Auto & General and UK-based Compare the Market.

With an estimated net worth of over R10bn, Steyn’s 810ha property north of Fourways in Johannesburg includes his R250m mansion called Palazzo Steyn, which overlooks the estate’s Jack Nicklaus designed golf course.

A stone’s throw away from Steyn’s house, a range of unique luxury homes and apartments are being completed, including a modern pad for Steyn City CEO Giuseppe Plumari.

Buy your piece of Steyn

If you’re in the position to part ways with R17m, then you could own a ready-made Steyn City home, fully designed and fitted with state-of-the-art technology and appliances. At the same time, you could simply just rent a flat for around R10 000 a month.

Steyn City chief operating officer Gary Lees took Fin24 on a tour of the new “city” that had been well-rehearsed to impress the big media turnout.

Humming along in a six-seater golf car, we witnessed ceramic artists designing underground murals, gym bunnies showing their worth in an open air gym that traced up the estate, horse riders prancing about, golfers practising their putting skills, an ice-cream truck serving delicious treats, guineafowls scurrying off into wild olive trees and a human nest overlooking the imposing beauty of the estate.

A ready-made city

The security and telecommunications systems, which will have a high-powered nerve centre, will eclipse anything else seen in the country and even includes a powerful nerve centre. It also has a world class Fibre-to-the-Home network that is light years ahead of standard copper cable offerings. And you have the freedom of choosing your own service provider to plug into the system.

No need to fear load shedding, as they have installed two bulk gas storage farms and promote the use of solar power for all homes. The lights (including LED street lights) and internet connectivity, they say, will stay on when the rest of the lights in the country go out.

The ecology of the estate is diverse, and to date, 100 000 trees have been planted (24 000 wild olive, 43 000 bush willow, 33 000 white stinkwood) with 746 000 plants currently in the nursery. The long-term aim is to plant one million trees, two million shrubs and 50 million ground cover plants by the time Steyn City reaches completion.

Down to business

The first phase of the development that launched this week saw the completion of 93 apartments and 19 clusters, with a further 45 clusters to be built off plan. In addition six show homes have been completed and 220 freehold stands have been released onto the market that will allow owners to build their own homes.

Wynand du Plessis, who heads up Scad (Steyn City Architecture and Design), said they don’t want the estate to look like a golf estate with one standard design. Residents will be able to build their homes according to their preference from a selection of architectural styles including: contemporary, Thesen Island, barnhouse and sandstone clad French chateau.

One, two and three bedroom apartments at Steyn City range in size from 74m2 to 149m2 with a starting price of R1.650m up to R3.9m. Apartments with 350m2 of floor space, 100m2 to 120m2 patios and a 2m x 3m plunge pool go for R13.9m.

Cluster range in price from R6.2m to R8.4m and include mostly four bedroom options, with an average floor size of 350m2 on stands varying from 400m2 to 600m2.

There is also an array of freehold stands with a starting price of R2.3m and range in size from 800m2 to 1 300m2 all the way through to expansive 4 000m2 fairway and river frontage stands in the region of R12m to R16m.

Lees said the show houses that are fully equipped would go in range of R17m.

Steyn City hopes to offer levies below the normal cost at other estates, as the investment by Steyn has ensured that the first occupants don’t pay for being early adopters. Then, as more people enter the estate, economies of scale will allow for that rate to remain low, said Lees.

Golding’s verdict

Dr Andrew Golding, CEO of Pam Golding Property Group which is jointly marketing the resort’s residential properties with Steyn City Properties, said that the mixed-use development is a pioneering and bold project, the likes of which have never before been seen in South Africa.

“This multi-billion rand project is a boom for the local economy and indicates just how much faith investors now have in the rapidly growing Gauteng residential development property market.”

“Steyn City is a completely new lifestyle concept,” he said. “In recent years, we have seen that many people want to return back to more traditional village forms of living, but with all of the conveniences of a modern lifestyle.

“There has been a growing demand for attractive, upmarket properties that offer total convenience combined with a sense of community and serenity,” he said. “Steyn City is an innovatively designed space that meets a myriad of needs and we believe that it has a fantastic future.”