Spearhead takes 50% of Oasis retirement village
Spearhead Property Holdings have let it be known that they have taken a 50 % share in the R500 million Oasis retirement village at Century City.
Spearhead Property Holdings have let it be known that they have taken a 50 % share in the R500 million Oasis retirement village at Century City. This was launched four months ago by Harries Projects and a consortium of private investors.
Mike Flax, Chief Executive of Spearhead Properties, said that Spearhead had had little hesitation in coming in on this project because “as the first major retirement development using high rise construction it is quite clear that it will set a new standard in retirement villages at the Cape and, indeed, in South Africa”.
The experience of the principal architect, Marc Harries and his associate, Ray Alexander (who teamed up previously on Century City’s The Island Club and elsewhere), said Flax, is evident in every aspect of the design, into which, he said, “considerable thought and planning has been put”.
Recapping on what the Oasis project will comprise, Roger Harries and Owen Futeran said that it would ultimately have:
- five ten-storey tower blocks, each with its own parking basement, visitors’ lounge and concierge-manned foyer.
- In this first phase only two blocks are being marketed. Each of these will have one, two and three bedroom apartments as well as penthouse suites. Floor sizes are 65 m2 to 180 m2, some 15% to 20% larger than the average Cape Town apartment, and the “extras” will include enclosed balconies, underfloor heating and imported kitchen equipment with upmarket finishes such as granite and glass tops.
- The prices of the units are from R895,000 to R3 million and work on the first two blocks will start in June/July this year and will be complete for handover by September/October 2006.
- a frail care facility with 24 hour nursing facilities and 78 assisted living apartments built around a citrus courtyard, in which some of the frail care services will be available to residents in their own bedsitters.
- an Oasis Club in which residents will have their own mini-cinema, restaurant, ladies’ bar, coffee shop, library, hairdresser, cocktail pool and function room and from which regular excursions will be organised for all residents to events and places of interest.
- a wellness club with “a truly modern” gymnasium and heated pool providing most of the popular ancillary treatments such as Pilates, massage, yoga and various beauty therapies.
Flax said that a project of this kind needs three supporting factors to make it a success – all of which the Oasis retirement village has. The first, he said, is a nearby complex with banking and professional services, retail outlets, dining and recreational facilities, all of which are to be found at Canal Walk. The second is an attractive environment – this, said Flax, has been assured by the provision of some 5ha of gardens and water features fed year round by Century City’s abundant water supply which is kept topped up by 100% clean recycled water and extensive inflows from the adjacent wetlands and canals. The third factor, said Flax, is privacy and security: the Oasis residents will be “protected” by high earth berms and a “triple layer” of security, i.e. Century City’s extensive patrol and monitoring systems, the Oasis’s own perimeter fencing and controlled entrances and the ground floor protection on each apartment block.
Other factors which could appeal to residents are the rapidly increasing bird life on the adjacent 16ha wetlands. Here, said Flax, one of the Cape’s finest conservation efforts, fostered by Century City’s conservationist, Deon Weyers, is proving highly successful and there are now well over 100 species of birds in the precinct.
Another factor likely to prove attractive to possible residents is the stable levy system. Levies will be financed by the body corporate receiving 25% of the enhancement on resales which will result in levies being low initially and likely to be “purely nominal” in five years’ time.
“All in all,” said Flax, “the Oasis retirement village will provide the most all-embracing, comprehensive facilities of any Cape retirement village. It will take the concept of new urbanism to new heights, enabling people to live, play, entertain and recreate in a safe, pollution-free environment – something every mature couple surely wants.”
Owen Futeran reminded prospective buyers that the developers have a large marquee at the Property Expo site at Century City in which there is a model of the entire development.
“It is,” said Futeran, “essential to visit the marquee because only by doing this will buyers realise how fast the nearby residential precincts – The Island Club, Bougan Villa, Villa Italia and Knights Bridge – are coming on and together creating an entirely new, very sophisticated water-orientated residential precinct.”