Steyn City raises mixed-use development to new heights
Steyn City, a staggering 2 000 acre lifestyle estate comprising residential units, golf course and commercial space, north of Fourways in Johannesburg — was launched yesterday by a low-profile billionaire Insurance tycoon Douw Steyn.
Situated in the triangle between affluent suburb of Dainfern, Kyalami and the low-income Diepsloot — the project is the biggest development to hit Gauteng in years after Waterfall in Midrand.
Steyn City Properties first completed the estate’s infrastructure which has included huge investment into roads, sewerage, water and basic services.
In a media brief at the official launch, Steyn City Properties CEO Giuseppe Plumari said that the development was a catalyst for the growth of the Fourways node.
The biggest contribution was in roads infrastructure, which saw R300m, set aside to expand arterial roads.
Plumari reports; “we are working with government to extend the William Nicol through to the N14 which is already under way.”
Steyn City is also partnering with government to upgrade Cedar Road that will feature two lanes on either side, from Fourways Life Hospital through to Steyn City Cedar Gatehouse.
About R6,5 billion has been spent on the first phase and over the next few years, over R50 billion is expected to be forked out for Phase-2 development.
They have transformed what used to be one of SA’s largest squatter camps — Zevenfontein — and its barren surrounds into the largest single live, work and play.
The giant city-within-a-city is six times the size of Sandton City, four times the size of Monaco, and nearly three times the size of New York’s Central Park.
The project is set to have its own retail centres and commercial office space, a medical facility, 18-hole Nicklaus-designed golf course and a school among other facilities, with planning approval for up to 10 000 residences.
More 100,000 indigenous trees have already been planted with another 1-million trees expected to be added to the estate over the next three years.
The estate boasts a 42km off-road mountain bike track, 15km of pedestrianised walkways, 100km of jogging tracks, an equestrian centre, outdoor swimming pools, skate parks, a clubhouse, gym and spa.
Property Prices
Prices of the 93 completed apartments range from R1.65m for one-bedroom units of 74m² to R3.9m for three-bedroom units of 149m².
Another 25 ultra luxury apartments of 400m², including expansive patios and private plunge pools, will be sold off-plan at R13.9m. Stand-alone homes and clusters are priced from R6.2m to about R8m.
Vacant stands sized between 800m² and 4,000m² will be sold from R2.3m to R16m.
Douw Steyn’s R250 million house
Douw Steyn, who owns the ultraluxurious Saxon hotel in Johannesburg and started Auto & General Insurance, moved to the UK in 1992 to start insurance group Budget.
Steyn City will be his biggest property investment in South Africa.
Until now much of the talk about Steyn City has centred on Mr Steyn’s palatial R250m mansion, which was completed some 12 months ago. The 3,000m² Tuscan villa on a 2.5ha stand is believed to be the most expensive home ever built in SA, which trumps the cost of President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home.
But Steyn has hit back, saying he could have invested his money in Europe or the United States but chose South Africa – a vote of confidence in the country’s investment climate.
Plumari says it would not have made sense for information on the development to be announced if there was nothing to sell or show.
Steyn’s massive investment has thus far created over 11 500 jobs for neighbouring Diepsloot and Cosmo City residents.
A skills-development centre, which former Zevenfontein resident and entrepreneur Bafana Mokwena runs, has been established and trains around 40 workers per month.