Howick set for R1bn development facelift

HOWICK, the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands town better known as a retirement destination, is set to grow with the development of a R1bn business park known as the Stockowners Business Park, property developer Gerald Mundell said this week.

The development is the most significant commercial or industrial development in Howick since the Sarmcol tyre and rubber factory was established in 1919.

It also symbolises readiness on the part of business to invest in towns situated close to Durban, which is running out of space.

Mr Mundell said businesses were showing interest in the business park because of Howick’s proximity to the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban, and due to some Pietermaritzburg enterprises wishing to relocate some of their operations. Pietermaritzburg, the provincial capital, is 26km from Howick.

The mixed-use development project was launched in October and sales for the first phase “are going very well”, Mr Mundell said.

The extent of interest boded well for the remaining phases of the project, with services to the park expected to be laid on in 16 months. Companies with operations as diverse as a foundry, piano repair, and transport and distribution had already shown interest, he said.

The town has become known as a retirement destination because of developments in the Amber Valley.

About 1600 retirement units have gone up there in the past five years, and 300 are being built.

Mr Mundell said Howick was one of the fastest-growing towns in SA and several other projects were under way, including 800 houses, a hotel and a shopping centre.

The GM for planning at uMngeni Municipality, Steve Simpson, said Howick had grown greatly in the past few years and the challenge was for the municipality to keep up with the provision of infrastructure.

Mr Simpson said Howick, which was banking on benefiting from further N3 transport corridor development plans, had only recently been overtaken as SA’s fastest-growing town by Nelspruit, which had cashed in on developments associated with the Maputo Corridor.

Mr Mundell said the business park would consist of a mix of light industrial sites ranging from 900m² to 3000m², with a few larger sites from 4600m² up to 2ha.

The commercial site has 10000m² of retail space, an office node with existing offices and with rights for up to 10000m² more office space.

Howick developer DKKS Properties, which recently developed the Greenacres Shopping Centre there, plans to build an office park to complement the business park.

Mills Fitchet (Natal), a firm of property valuers, had acquired the Tweedie block where the original Stockowners Co-operative offices were based, Mr Mundell said.

The demographics of the town are expected to change as a result of the development, with younger people settling there for work.