Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has assured concerned residents of the greater Atlantic Seaboard community that they have made sure parking and municipal services will be able to cope with the new development at 6 Kloof Road.
The Tropicana will boast 54 self-catering apartments.
But irate residents are worried about how the old infrastructure will cope with water supplies and sewage and that the already traffic-congested streets will become more problematic.
The development is expected to boast a rooftop Olympic-size swimming pool. Bookings will be open in 2024, while the price tag per night is being kept private.
Peter Flentov of the Atlantic Seaboard Community Forum said infrastructure including water, traffic and sewage was a concern when new developments were under way.
“There are already bottlenecks and this will be adding to it, for example along Regent Road,” he said.
“It’s not just the parking but the sewage. Due to the infrastructure and the water system, we often have water leaks in St John’s Road.
“This will just place more pressure on our water and sewage system.”
The City’s deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews, said in his response that the relevant departments did not offer objections and that the parking would suit any mode of transport. “The approval granted a parking departure, but conditions were added for motorcycle and bicycle bays to be on the property as well as parking bays for ride-sharing vehicles. This was done in terms of the approved plan.
“In terms of services, the property has a General Business 5 zoning within the core strip around Sea Point Main Road. Applications were for projecting canopies into the street, building work adjacent a metropolitan road, and the parking departure. Given the property’s location, nature of the applications, and primary rights applicable to the property, service provision has been dealt with at building plan stage.
“The relevant City departments therefore offered no objections.”
Ward councillor Nicola Jowell was also approached about the residents’ concerns, but said: “Like any member of the community, we are able to comment on applications. As part of the review process the application will be sent to all City departments to review and provide comments, concern, any requirements or conditions, and support or no support for a planning application.”
This week, the property’s management Perch Short Stays and developer Signatura told the “Weekend Argus” that the per night rates would only be released closer to the completion which has also yet to be made public, but that bookings would open in 2024 via their website, which they referred the newspaper to.
Candace Petersen, digital marketing manager of Signatura and Perch Short Stays, said: “Tropicana is being offered as an apart-hotel managed by Perch Short Stays.
“Detailed pricing information per night will be released closer to completion.
“As mentioned, our prices are not available yet.
“As per the information on our website, we are looking at taking bookings early 2024.”
Managing director David Cohen said they were not near completion and did not divulge more.
According to Property24, the original building was last sold in 2023 with a price tag of R11 750 000 and new apartments are not for sale.
Residents have also taken to social media to air their concerns about the development via their Facebook page, The Atlantic Seaboard Community Forum, which is regulated by Flentov.
Mark Jackson was also in disagreement: “Looks completely out of scale compared to the beautiful and historic fire station next door, and historic cottages across the road!
“Why so little pedestrian space for a building this large?
“We need a moratorium on development until we start actually treating our sewage effluent, instead of dumping it raw into our national marine park.”
But Michael Janse van Rensburg, the chief executive officer of Heritage Western Cape, Western Cape government, said despite all the noise, they did not have development time frame information.
“The developer is not required to engage further with Heritage Western Cape regarding the commencement or cost of the development,” he added.
“This means that Heritage Western Cape does not have information on when the developer plans to start or what the actual cost of the development will be.”
A year ago, IOL reported that despite the community’s concerns about the demolition of the building, it was given the go-ahead by Heritage Western Cape’s appeal tribunal.
The demolition was approved on condition that the new building measured from the existing ground level to the top of the roof and did not exceed 25m in height.
The appeal was lodged with the Heritage Western Cape’s built environment and landscape committee and the developer, Sun Property Investment, had then appealed against the decision of the committee and later the appeal overruled their decision.
Six recommendations were made, which included that the building architecture did not include buildings adjoining to it.
The building is rich in history and heritage, which has been a concern for residents as it stands at being older than 60 years.
Earlier, the approval had been given without conditions but was met with outrage by the Bantry Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association, Fresnaye, Sea Point, and the Simon van der Stel Heritage Foundation, who considered the building to be of heritage importance.
The “Weekend Argus” also approached The Seaboard Ratepayers Association for comment but they did not provide a response, stating they had internet issues.