Crunch turns Waterfront into eyesore
Helen Bamford
March 14 2009 at 02:42PM
Some disgruntled tenants at the V&A Waterfront say the credit crunch is making it harder to do business at what is one of South Africa's premier tourist destinations, yet rentals are constantly increasing.
The Waterfront has also come under scrutiny from visitors, who complain that the centre is looking shabby and is in need of maintenance.
Two shops recently closed and last year a tenant was evicted for failing to pay rental arrears.
"I doubt there is a single tenant that is not affected," said one owner, who asked not to be named.
"You just need to walk through the centre to see how dead it is. At this rate they are going to lose some important anchor tenants."
Several new developments have also been put on hold by new owners London and Regional and Dubai World, who bought the prime property for R7,3-billion in 2006.
Another business owner said South Africans were spending a lot less and that while there were tourists, it was not the usual flood.
"People don't go wild anymore," he said, adding that there were a number of restaurants for sale.
Sun Goddess and Harper recently closed down while last year Clarence Ford, who owned 90% of Vandenberg's Jazz Café, was evicted after owing the Waterfront R219 000 in arrears.
But Waterfront spokesperson Maureen Thomson said new tenants had already signed up for the empty shops.
She said rentals at the Waterfront were not way above market-related prices.
"Our turnover results are still good and up on last year."
Thomson added that while a couple of developments were on hold, this was due to the global recession.
"Most property developers elsewhere in the city are also riding out the storm," she said.
Peter Newall, a former Capetonian who now lives in Britain, said he had recently returned from a trip to Cape Town and was appalled by what he had seen at the Waterfront.
He provided photographs of litter in the water and someone dumping bilge water into the harbour.
"When I was at the Cape Grace Hotel, I looked out of the window of the restaurant to see floating plastic bottles, and the entrance to the Robinson Dry Dock is a floating garbage dump," Newall wrote in an e-mail.
He is also concerned that the historic Clock Tower is being used by a restaurant for serving food.
Thomson said Emily's Restaurant had been made aware it needed to make an alternative plan.
She said a kiosk was being designed which would hopefully be ready by summer.
"We must protect the Clock Tower as a heritage building."
With regard to the litter in the water, Thomson said that she had raised the issue with the harbour master.
"He said that when the south-easter blows the storm water drains in town get blocked with litter that comes into our basin."
Thomson said they had two vessels which cleaned the harbour daily and also monitored the fishing boats.
She said the dumping of the bilge water had been addressed on the day it happened.
o This article was originally published on page 10 of Cape Argus on March 14, 2009
