Cosmopolitan Village – Umhlanga Ridge
It's like instant coffee. Just add water and stir. No birth pangs. Gateway Theatre of Shopping, St Lucia Office Park Ridge, Umhlanga Ridge and its sizzling hot town centre, New Town, has, to all intents and purposes, sprung up miraculously and promised us a vibrant, fully-fledged cafe society who live and play where they work.
As firmly established as this new world appears to be, according to the those in the know, the landscape and lifestyle is still in its infancy. Forget the existing developments, just consider the stretch of coast between La Lucia and Ballito around 27 000 upmarket dwelling units are either under construction or in the planning phase. Makes you blink, doesn't it?
Umhlanga Ridge has not evolved in the traditional, organic way that towns generally do and for good reason. A decade or so back when Moreland the property arm of Tongaat-Hulett Group looked out over the endless sugarcane fields, they, in conjunction with key provincial players, devised a brave, strategic overview for the future of the area as a single entity. Town planning from scratch if you like, but taken to the nth degree.
This was a case of looking back while peering into the future, assessing and analysing the applicability of worldwide trends and then creating a far-reaching, long-term vision for this sweet tract of land on the fringe of Umhlanga, the holiday destination for well-heeled Gautengers.
Mike Deighton, director of Moreland's industrial and commercial development, explained the motivation behind Umhlanga Ridge and its adjacent nodes, as well as Moreland's role in this property explosion.
'Briefly, radiating out from Durban's CBD was what we colloquially term the 'golden T': a band of affluence and economic development extending up and down the north and south coasts, and inland up the arterials to Kloof. Historically, that's the way of many urban systems and metropolitan areas.
Following that once again a conventional city development worldwide when the metropolitan area reaches a certain scale, it necessitates the development of secondary urban entities within the fabric of the metropole. Umhlanga Ridge fits into that very nicely.
Umhlanga is in a band of what is, in American urban design terminology, an 'edge city'. If you look 15km from the CBD, you'll find the Pinetown node inland, Isipingo node in the south and the Umhlanga node to the north.' Moreland, which owned much of this land already, then purchased more in order to realise its vision and created a detailed blueprint for the area based on extensive research into New Urbanism, a concept internationally in vogue for the last 20 years: basically an urban entity comprising retail, office and residential components.
In Umhlanga Ridge's growing New Town destined to be the town centre all three components are layered in the same building, creating the 'mixed use' concept.
Deighton describes Moreland's role as 'interventionist', but far from having a Big Brother connotation, the fact that they've not wavered from their vision has benefited everybody, in particular developers and investors who've retained their confidence in a group whose project is not predicated on a buoyant market. There's no doubt the progression of this node has been as speedy as it's been spellbinding.
'We began with a conventional suburban dormitory residential development on a poor piece of land, badly positioned, with no views yet this development, Mount Edgecomb, turned into one of best golf estates in South Africa.
We followed that with the 200 000m gated office estate La Lucia Office Park. People said we were crazy, and it wouldn't sell for 50 years. Ten years later it's gone.'
Moreland's doesn't do any top structure development. They sell pieces of land, supply the infrastructure and then the management structure that continues to make it work.
In most of the developments, developers go through a design process and have their plans approved by a panel constituted under Moreland's management system. The plans are pre-screened before being submitted to the regional authorities.
'The process is entirely transparent,' says Deighton. 'There's a manual which provides the rules, and they're the same for every developer. This underpins investor confidence. Nobody has to worry about putting up a big investment, because the guy next door simply cannot erect something which adversely affects yours.'
Umhlanga Ridge New Town is the hottest property belt on the block, but to fully understand its ethos, it's necessary to turn back the clock four years to Old Mutual's buy-in to Moreland's vision for a brand-new town centre for Umhlanga: the Gateway Theatre of Shopping. When mooted, this R1.6-billion shopping centre created massive excitement, controversy and a fair amount of scepticism. It was never envisaged as a stand-alone centre, but the key piece in a master plan. Mike Rodel was Gateway's first general manager, and he's still at the helm. He has good reason to be proud, as he recalls the Press calling Gateway 'a white elephant'.
'In terms of development and size, we've achieved more in four years than Sandton did in 25. We added 12 000m last year welcoming in the last big national anchors like Edgars so we're able to contain the leakage out of our catchment area to our competitors. Now, with our combined fashion and entertainment components, we're able to penetrate to a huge degree into our competitor's markets our foot traffic has grown between 22-27 per cent this year over a very strong base and turnover growth has risen well above national levels. The centre is doing exceptionally well.'
And for those who wheeze their way from one end of the massive Gateway complex to another, on with your skates. 'We're currently finalising our plans for 2006, with further retail extensions of approximately 5 000m and an additional parking garage plus a major gym with a glass facade overlooking the Wave House out to the proposed landscaped park.
The park is phase two of Umhlanga Ridge, where Moreland will be creating a massive 2ha park or 'green lung' large enough to house a stage, water features and so on, and where musical concerts holding 500 are envisaged. For Gateway, it'll be perfect for promotional activities currently too large to be housed within the centre.
Rodel explains Moreland's standpoint vis-vis New Town and its inherent high-density lifestyle. 'The concept of new urbanism relies on the quality of the public domain. The streets, parks, piazzas, squares and open spaces need to be pleasant, well maintained, clean and secure. By creating the right urban form and management structure ongoing management, security processes, landscape maintenance Moreland, and the mechanisms we create, enable us to sustain the vision.'
Attorney and developer Vejan Pillay is deeply entrenched solely and collaboratively in a number of mixed-use residential developments in New Town, like the upmarket Meridian and the Millenium, still under construction. He acknowledges his initial scepticism when it came to the mixed-use concept. 'We didn't want to build shops or offices, only residential, but Moreland's panel told me I'd be very thankful one day! And I am the demand for retail is huge.' Pillay says the work-live-play New Town concept has been taken to heart, particularly by the younger, aspirant buyers who can't yet afford a house in the area, don't need the responsibilities associated with home ownership but want a toehold in the market. Not only that, they also enjoy the young vibe, accessibility to shops, movies and restaurants, as well as the flexibility of the lock-up-and-go scenario. At this stage, a significant percentage of property is being purchased either by local investors or by Gauteng businesspeople or holidaymakers who spend a couple of weekends a month in Umhlanga. And for the older, perhaps retired buyer, who doesn't require a car, and yearns for security and safety without gates and guards.
Ross Developments a division of the J.T. Ross Group is clearly on an Umhlanga Ridge roll, most especially in the commercial field. Grant Smith, director of its development division, describes the new ethos in terms of commercial designs as a single-plan environment. 'In terms of layout in these new buildings, business aims to create more lateral integration and better cohesion between divisions. They're achieving that by opening up the space, creating public environments at the front of the building so social interaction can take place often with a great view and putting the working environment behind that.'
There's a definite spatial blurring of work and play and, not unlike the high-density living concept, it's altering traditional interactions says Smith. 'If you look at the rejuvenation of Durban's CBD, buildings or zones which have a view whether green or water are those in demand and are therefore the first to be rejuvenated.
On the Ridge, that's effectively been the key focus of the drive: the public environment must have optimal status. No acres of car parks or traffic jams, but rather well-lit security, green areas and hidden cars Moreland has designated that developments must 'hide' 80 per cent of cars in the basement. In short, people's needs take precedence.'
The high-density aspect of New Town has probably been the most contentious issue with South Africans particularly affluent ones unaccustomed to close-knit living conditions and communal facilities. While Moreland acknowledges this as having been the most challenging aspect of their vision for the area, it's been tried and tested globally and South Africans have grown comfortable with the concept. As Deighton says: 'Last year, more than R80-million land sales were concluded in the Umhlanga Ridge New Town Centre the concept of living and working within the same space is gaining ground. There are more than 1 200 residential units currently being built in the Gateway phase one precinct, and phase two will soon be released.'
David Jelland, Moreland's residential director, believes that, correctly managed, closer living facilitates an improved social integration. In addition, more people can benefit from the positive natural attributes of an area, be they sea views, parks, green belts or even distant country views. He also feels it broadens the mindset from parochial to global.
'When densification is correctly planned and executed with political, business and community participation, it has the potential to overcome a host of social and economic urban problems. Increased densification is more desirable than continuing urban sprawl. Apart from being an eye-sore and wasting space, urban sprawl stretches the municipality's ability to provide resources and services to areas.'
More importantly perhaps, bringing high-density living closer to the confines of the business district paves the way for the cafe society the concept that epitomises the existence of boulevards and street-level restaurants and apartments that overlook the scene.
Sally Schenk, one of the principals of Pam Golding Properties in Umhlanga, is excited about developments around New Town, such as Platinum Towers. 'It's a quality development situated within easy walking distance of the Wave House at Gateway and in the hub of Umhlanga's New Town centre,' she says. 'And PGP sold 20 out of 30 units within the first few days of it coming on the market.' Schenk believes the key to sales will always be correct pricing but, having said that, with the market as buoyant as it has been recently she acknowledges that buyers from up-country are still purchasing high-priced homes in the knowledge that, long-term, 'Umhlanga properties will be extremely valuable'.
The Umhlanga Ridge node has 500 000m under development. By the time it's all completed, bank on more than 2 000 000m the time frame for this is unknown, but full potential gauged at eight to 10 years.
Deighton considers the launch of phase two of the New Town Centre as a signal of a maturing urban system on the Ridge. The planning emphasis in this phase focuses around the Chris Saunders Park, with corporate offices and the banking district making up the key components.
And while the multiple-use concept of New Town beds down and draws the young and the restless affordable bachelor pads are becoming more of a norm in developer's plans Moreland is gearing up to release more of their plentiful land this time the much-awaited Umhlanga Triangle. (According to Tongaat-Hulett's corporate documents, it owns 23 000ha of land 'of which 11 600ha are potentially under urban or tourism development demand'.)
The Triangle is a 140ha site bounded by Umhlanga Rocks Drive, the M4 and the Mount Edgecombe M41 highway, will bring a potential 3 000 residential units and 250 000m of commercial bulk space to the market via four development areas that enhance the natural attributes of this sea-view site.
An international Blue Flag accredited beach; a stone's throw from the forthcoming international La Mercy airport; accessibility to office parks; all the motor dealers; the outer ring road (and another in the pipeline); and of course, Gateway Theatre of Shopping
These are the components of the growing Umhlanga Ridge footprint. But the drawcard for many is the growing sense of a new South African community and lifestyle, one which holds all the promise for a cosmopolitan town which feels like home.
http://www.thepropertymag.co.za/pages/452774491/articles/2005/November/Cosmopolitan_Village_-_Umhlanga_Ridge.asp
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