Page 9 - KZN Business Sense 12.4 - Terry Flack

KZN’S PROPERTY PLOT TWIST

Heather Flack, Business the destruction of the 2021 HOW TONGAAT HULETT’S COLLAPSE
Leader, Flair Accounting unrest – forced something
the market would never have UNLOCKS A R15 BN DEVELOPMENT BOOM
ut of one produced on its own: the land
of the had to be sold, and sold at pace. DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT ACTIVITY - KZN WEST CORRIDOR
Oprovince’s Where one company’s vision and R15bn
most painful financial capacity had previously 15
corporate determined the tempo of
collapses, an development across these nodes, 10
unexpected suddenly multiple well-capitalised 1R Billion (indicative)
R15 billion developers were moving 5 R4bn
development simultaneously, in competition, R2bn
boom is taking shape with their own capital and their R0.3bn
own timelines. 0
There is a version of this story Pre-2019 2020-2022 2022-2024 2025-2026
that begins with winners and Jan Jansen van Vuuren, (Tongaat era) (Crisis / Covid) (Restructure) (Boom)
opportunities. We’ll get there. development manager at
But the honest version starts with Fundamentum Property Group, KEY PROJECTS RESHAPING THE KZN DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE
something harder. describes it plainly: “It forced
them to sell. What happened Westown Westown Kaleido Balwin eThekwini
Tongaat Hulett was once one of subsequently? Half the land was (Shongweni) (Shongweni) (Residential) (Shongweni Park) (Infrastructure)
LAUNCHED
KwaZulu-Natal’s great employers. sold to developers with the right R15bn R8.6bn MARCH 2026 R133.7m R600m
For generations of workers across capital. Instead of one developer, TOTAL PORTFOLIO LAND DEAL COMMITTED
the province – in its sugar mills, you have four, five or six as big N3 corridor Tecoma Park Midlands lifestyle 2 800 units Roads, bulk services,
on its farms, in its property balance sheets drive development Mixed-use pecinct logistics & retail migration play planned Kassier Road
and development divisions – it at a bigger pace. It’s actually a
represented stable livelihoods and good thing in the longer run.”
community. At its peak, the group + R15bn + 1 Dominant landowner + 22,000+ jobs + KZN semigration
directly and indirectly supported What Is Being Built — And Private Investment â expected across KZN accelerating - Midlands
& North Coast leading
West Corridor over
tens of thousands of jobs across Where Unlocked at Westown 5+ competeting 10 years growth
developers
Alone
KZN. When its governance The most visible expression of
collapsed under the weight of an this momentum is Westown, the Source: Moneyweb, IOL, Westown.co.za, Fundamentum Property Group | Business Sense / Flair Accounting
accounting scandal, compounded
by Covid and the July 2021 R15 billion mixed-use precinct
taking shape in Shongweni, just
unrest, the consequences were off the N3 near Hillcrest. The a similar institutional confidence not, that registration conversation a few property announcements.
not just felt in boardrooms and March 2025 opening of Westown in the long-term trajectory of this is worth having now. Many of the communities most
on JSE screens. They were felt in part of the province. Retail and hospitality have affected by Tongaat Hulett’s
households. Square – a 50 000m² high-street a semigration tailwind. The collapse are still navigating that
retail hub – was followed weeks What This Means for Your transition. These realities deserve
That context matters. Any ago by the March 2026 launch Business – Right Now households relocating from to be named.
honest assessment of what of Kaleido, a residential precinct Development announcements Gauteng to KZN’s coastal and
is now happening in KZN’s designed to capture KZN’s are easy to read as news for midlands corridors are bringing What is also true is that the
property market has to begin growing semigration market. spending power with them. They property market is not waiting
by acknowledging that the Where this corridor had almost other people – for property need restaurants, coffee shops, for those challenges to be fully
opportunity before us emerged no economic development activity investors, for large corporates, specialist food retailers, gyms, resolved before it moves. The
for people who build things. But
from real hardship. It does not for a decade, it is now the most the structural shift underway in medical practices, schools, and managed-precinct model is,
diminish the new chapter to say active property node in the lifestyle services – and they are in part, a pragmatic response
so. If anything, it makes what is province. KZN creates specific, tangible clustering in exactly the nodes to exactly those constraints –
unfolding more meaningful: a South Africa’s largest JSE-listed opportunities for businesses where the new development private capital stepping into the
of every size operating in this
province using the wreckage of REIT, Growthpoint Properties, province. Here is where to look. activity is concentrated. Kaleido’s maintenance and governance
one era to build something better. residential launch is a direct bet role that public institutions
has committed R8.6 billion Professional services have an on this demographic. For KZN cannot currently fill. It is not a
The Setup: One Company, 8 200 across 560 000m² of KZN assets early-mover window. Every new hospitality and retail operators, permanent solution to KZN’s
Hectares, and a Difficult Decade – including the R392 million precinct– residential, commercial, these new residential precincts structural challenges. But it is
Tecoma Park logistics hub on the represent a fresh audience. creating real activity, real jobs in
For decades, Tongaat Hulett N3 corridor. Balwin Properties or mixed-use – generates construction and operations, and
held an extraordinary position has concluded a R133.7 million demand for accountants, Logistics and warehousing real opportunities for businesses
in KZN’s development land deal for 2 800 residential attorneys, financial advisers, HR demand is rising along the N3. that are paying attention.
landscape. The group controlled units in the same node. Collins consultants, payroll services, and The Tecoma Park logistics hub
approximately 8 200 developable Residential and Devmco are IT support from the businesses and the broader industrial belt The R15 billion arriving
hectares across the province replicating a similar “managed that move into it. If your forming along the N3 corridor in Shongweni, the R8.6
– stretching from Umhlanga’s cluster” approach across the professional services firm is not represent a genuine shift in billion institutional bet from
coastal corridor through the province’s coastal and midlands already visible in the Hillcrest, how freight moves through Growthpoint, the Balwin and
airport precinct, along the corridors. Outer West, and N3 corridor the province. For businesses Devmco clusters spreading across
North Coast, and deep into the catchment, this is the moment to dependent on supply chains – the coastal and midlands corridors
Outer West via the Shongweni Developers are calling the N3 consider it. manufacturers, distributors, – these are not on a planning
basin. That’s not just land. That’s corridor between Durban and The construction and fitout importers, and exporters – board. The shovels are in the
leverage over an entire province’s Pietermaritzburg “the Midrand supply chain is running hot. proximity to institutional-grade ground. For KZN business owners,
urban growth trajectory. of KZN”. That comparison is not Westown alone requires R900 warehousing adjacent to the the question is less whether this
casual: it references the scale of highway network is increasingly a is happening and more what they
The collapse of that structure transformation that Waterfall City million in bulk infrastructure, competitive differentiator. If you
– through governance failures, achieved in Gauteng, and suggests and that is before a single are approaching a lease renewal intend to do with it. 
the disruption of Covid, and building interior is finished.
Electrical contractors, plumbers, decision, the N3 industrial E: heather@flairaccounting.co.za
tilers, furniture suppliers, corridor is worth benchmarking W: www.flairaccounting.co.za
Instead of one developer, you now signage companies, landscapers, against your current address.
have four, five or six with the right capital and security installers are all A Forward-Looking Note
in demand across multiple
driving development at a bigger pace. It’s simultaneous project sites. For KZN still has genuine

actually a good thing in the longer run. any KZN trade or supply business, challenges. Municipal capacity,
infrastructure backlogs, and the
the question is whether you are
registered with the procurement lingering economic effects of the
– Jan Jansen van Vuuren, Fundamentum Property Group systems of the major developers. If 2021 unrest are not resolved by

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