Open City-owned land officially out for tender

The controversial piece of City-owned land, Erf 1056, in Granger Bay next to the Cape Town Stadium has officially gone out for tender.

This despite the fact that ratepayers and civic organisations slammed the City’s public participation process in June (“Tender out for Granger Bay site”, Atlantic Sun, June 2).

At the time, Len Swimmer deputy chairpman of the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance, told the Atlantic Sun that the City of Cape Town had “centralised decision making” and only paid lip service to public participation.

The tender document, which has now been officially released, invites offers of either an upfront payment of R100 million or a monthly rental fee of R750 000 (excluding VAT). One of the conditions on the tender document is a yearly rental fee increase of at least eight percent. The lease of the land is expected to be for a period of 25 years.

The City says the land is being used for parking when there is an overflow on Cape Town Stadium match days. The stadium still makes a reported loss of R40 million a year.

The City’s tender document says: “It (the land) offers a desirable location near the retail hub of Green Point with good access to public transport and is considered suitable for retail and commercial development.”

The property has recently been rezoned to allow development of approximately 29 000 m2 of space, with a height restriction of 25m (eight storeys).

The Green Point Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association (GPRRA) has criticised the process, but said the decision to release the tender officially had not come as a surprise.

In June, GPRRA vice chairman Luke Stevens said the City had not taken any of the association’s comments into account when considering the tender.

He said there was no need for another commercial development in walking distance from the V&A Waterfront.

The proposal had been “motivated from the start as a cross-subsidisation measure to offset the stadium costs. Very little creative energy has been squandered on social, urban and spatial planning considerations”.

He warned that as the area’s population grew so too would the demand for space for sport and recreation.

GPRRA chairwoman Jenny McQueen said the association would offer of R1 and, if successful, give the land back to the people.