Pam Golding Properties’ Pretoria region will be marketing some 500 residential apartments and penthouses that are earmarked for development in Menlyn Maine, the company has announced. It will also be moving its Pretoria head office to Menlyn Maine this month.
“Menlyn Maine is emerging as a prestigious new business centre and the address of choice in Pretoria, and we felt that this impressive development was also a location befitting the Pam Golding Properties brand,” comments Retha Schutte, Pam Golding Properties Regional Executive, Pretoria region.
“We regard it as logical step for us to make our new home in South Africa’s first green city and within the ‘Sandton of Pretoria’. We are consequently moving our local headquarters to the development, and will be operational in our new home on 21 September 2016, where we will have a superbly equipped office overlooking Central Square”.
“Our move demonstrates just how much confidence we have in the future of Menlyn Maine, which in our view points the way to the future of urban design in South Africa,” adds Schutte.
“Pam Golding Properties shares a number of synergies with the developers of Menlyn Maine, including a strong brand, green agenda and a shared history, and we are exceptionally proud to be involved in the marketing the impressive residential component of this development.”
Schutte says that the state-of-the-art apartment block is to be developed as part of the second phase of construction at Menlyn Maine and will be completed in 2018. “We are going to launch the residential development in October 2016, and will be selling the units off-plan.
“Investors will have an opportunity to reserve a unit before the launch in October for a R50 000 deposit. This deposit will be fully refundable if a sale agreement is not signed within seven days after the launch. This is no risk opportunity to secure the very best units within this prestigious development,” adds Schutte.
“There is a great need for quality accommodation in the region and there is little doubt that that investors will clamor to purchase residential space in Menlyn Maine, which is going to offer residents a highly convenient and cosmopolitan urban lifestyle.”
The residential area will be situated in north-eastern part of the site, and consist of two high-rise apartment blocks and three smaller buildings. These will offer a range of accommodation options, be of novel design and built around a central park, giving residents access to a serene green area. They will also offer outstanding views of the city.
“We fully expect these beautiful apartments to prove highly popular with those seeking to live within the precinct or to investors seeking an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase to let,” observes Schutte.
Thys Greef of Menlyn Maine describes the precinct as a purpose-designed green mini-city, and the largest project of its kind within the Tshwane municipal region. He says the mini-city brings together office, commercial, residential and entertainment spaces into a carefully crafted urban space.
“The developers have partnered with the international Clinton Climate Initiative and the precinct is one of 17 green cities that will be built in various countries and the only one in Africa,” he adds.
“The entire precinct is designed according to the standards set down in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighbourhood Development rating system. All of the buildings in the precinct are required to achieve a minimum of a Four-Star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).”
Schutte adds that a green agenda is a further synergy shared by Pam Golding Properties and Menlyn Maine. “We have partnered with the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), and are actively driving a better understanding of value in the residential property market with regard to a residential property or residential development’s green credentials.”
“Indeed, Pam Golding Properties group’s marketing director, Anthony Stroebel, has been a member of the GBCSA’s Board since 2000 and aims to integrate a ‘green agenda’ as a brand dimension of Pam Golding Properties as well as into the future of residential property in South Africa.”
She says that Pam Golding Properties first partnered with the developers at the inception of the Menlyn Maine project assisting with the purchase and assembly of 108 stands in Waterkloof Glen Ext 2 between 2006 and 2007, after which construction could get under way. “We therefore also have an important historical connection to the development.”
According to Schutte, her projects division has vast experience in providing consulting services to institutional-type developers on high-end iconic buildings such as those being constructed at Menlyn Maine – from the concept stage of development, all the way through to sales and marketing.
Schutte, who has more than 20 years of experience in advising developers, property speculators and investors, and has also run a highly successful Pretoria property Investor Forum since 2013, says that the Pam Golding Properties move to Menlyn Maine will also presage a drive to further expand its force of quality agents.
She says that from its new headquarters in Menlyn Maine, Pam Golding Properties is going to be looking to considerably increase the number of its real estate agents in the field, so that it can cover the length and breadth of the region in an even more cohesive and effective manner.
“We are actively recruiting the crème-de-la-crème of Pretoria-based agents. It is our explicit goal to attract like-minded, successful individuals who understand the property business, have an intimate knowledge of the region, and can hold their own in terms of offering quality service to a discerning group of local and international buyers,” concludes Schutte.
