By Gareth Lombard- Commercial and Industrial Investment Broker – Director Sokolic ID, Cape Town, South Africa

The news that South Africa is in its first recession in 17 years seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongues at the moment.

Although this is having its effects on the manufacturing industries, some aren’t feeling the pinch yet, but they most likely will in the next few months. Most enterprises will do well, if they haven’t already, to assess their Operational Expenses and seek ways to maintain business with cutting costs. I believe cutting labour should be one of the last lines of defence, but understand the necessity in certain cases.

One way to cut costs drastically would be to search for alternative business operating premises.  Factoring in the costs of moving premises against the lower rentals one can achieve elsewhere is something to investigate and seriously consider. Moving to a different area with less property costs is certainly a must for some business’s survival in these economic times. Within the Industrial property market, one such perfectly situated area is the Industrial Suburb of Philippi East, Western Cape.

Philippi East, is the last remaining undeveloped Industrial area close to the Cape Town International Airport and has a lot of current and future planned developments around it. Philippi has great access to the R300, N2 and N1 Roads which links to all the major Western Cape Transport routes. Philippi is also earmarked for major infrastructural and related investments with its planned link to the Eastern node of the Wetton-Lansdowne Corrider Project.

Not only is Philippi in ideal location for road and air transport, it is well located for access to the public transport that supports the major workforce in Cape Town. The Philippi-Khayelitsha Railway line with its Stock Road Station has 28 000 people per week using its interchange while also housing the bus terminal for travelling country wide.
Stock Road Station itself serves a community of about 500 000 people.

Notable developments in the area are the recently completed R58 million Marley Tiles Distribution Warehouse, The New Fresh Produce Market, Power Constructions application for a 60 ha Industrial Development,  an 18 000 m² shopping centre in planning phase in Gugulethu, and another potential 8 500 m² shopping centre on Stock Road.

An ideal factory currently to let in Philippi East is a 9 000 m² Factory on an estimated 20 000 m² (2 ha) erf which has potential for 3 (three) sided road access and has a large tarred parking area; which is going for R15/m² excl vat and operational costs. This is approximately less than half of what you would pay in Montague Gardens or Epping. For a similar property in Epping you would pay an estimated R300k per month so renting a factory like this this would mean a saving of about R2 million a year.

Details of the factory to let:

•    General Industrial Zoning 2 ha Erf
•    Good condition 9 000 m² building and screeded cement floor.
•    Electrical Supply has 2 x 800 kva Transformers with an input of 11 000 volts per transformer in primary phase and 380v standard 3-phase output.

If you would like to enquire about leasing this property, please contact Gareth Lombard on 082 445 6618 or via email at gareth@sokolic.com

* Gareth Lombard is a Commercial Property Investment Broker and Director at Sokolic ID, part of  Sokolic Property Group based in Cape Town South Africa.

For more information or advice on buying, selling or letting commercial property in South Africa Contact SOKOLIC PROPERTY GROUP on 021 551 6938 (national call centre) or visit our Contact Page here to view individual brokers’ contact details.