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RUGBY doyen Louis Luyt will level his treasured beachfront home in
KwaZulu-Natal to make way for an exclusive residential development.
The gracious North Coast home, transformed three years ago into a 12-suite
boutique hotel, is one of the most expensive residential properties
in the country and among a handful of remaining developable sites along
the prime Ballito coastline.
Up to 82 upmarket sectional-title apartments will be built on the 10000m²
property, starting in the next few months. The development is expected
to cost more than R200-million.
Luyt’s son, Louis Luyt jnr, said this week that the decision to
demolish the property, which his father built as a holiday home in the
early 1980s, had been difficult.
“But you’ve got to make these decisions and look at the best
way to extract value from the property, especially when you sit with
astronomical rates and taxes bills,” he said.
The hotel, Ballito Manor, had not generated the level of business demanded
from a property of such value, he said. The property, which also boasts
two houses, is the only one with direct access to Ballito’s main
swimming beach.
Luyt jnr said the new units would range from two to four bedrooms and
would include “top finishes”. He declined to discuss further
details of the development.
Retrenchment packages for hotel staff had been “generous”,
he said, with many already placed at other hotels.
Following the demolition, Luyt jnr will rent in Shaka’s Rock while
his parents will move to a rented house at Zimbali. Both families live
on the property.
The Luyt development comes as Ballito’s rampant property boom
finally simmers down. The coastal town experienced a boom a year ago,
which led to grossly overpriced properties. Investors buying off-plan
and selling later were making as much as 45% in just six months at one
stage.
“We could sell two palm trees with a hanging mat for R1.5-million
with a guaranteed holiday-letting income and people would have bought
it,” said the managing director of Realty1 Parsons Property Group,
Horst Keil.
“That kind of behaviour is definitely over. Investors with unrealistic
expectations are no longer in Ballito. We’re dealing only with
genuine buyers now.”
An independent property valuer, Terry Labuscagne, said buyers in Ballito,
as elsewhere, were thinning out as the market “catches its breath”.
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Newsletter:
3 February 2012 to 10 February 2012 - Krugersdorp, Gauteng, South Africa
