[imagesource: River Club]

Guess who’s moving into Observatory?

Only the biggest e-commerce company in the world.

The City of Cape Town has just given the go-ahead to the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust to develop a new R4 billion, 150 000-square mile mixed-use development in Observatory that will host global tech giant, Amazon.

The announcement was made on Monday, and the development will build on the River Club in Observatory.

Amazon does already have a location in Roeland Street, but they are hoping to expand their presence in Africa, and moving into the River Club location will help that goal.

The move is expected to merge Amazon’s web and customer services.

As per Moneyweb, the development has been announced, but no further details have been given on Amazon’s planned operations.

Some wonder if it will create competition with Naspers-owned Takealot.

This development has had a fair share of contestation about the environmental and cultural impact it may have.

Here’s more from Business Insider SA:

Environmental activists argued that the construction of the mega-development on the floodplain between the Black and Liesbeek Rivers will damage the ecosystem and increase the risk of flooding in adjacent properties.

Further opposition to the development comes from certain members of the Observatory community and the Khoi and San people (referred to collectively as the ‘First Nations’).

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato argues that these concerns have been considered:

“The city has carefully and thoroughly considered all of the submissions and concerns during the appeal process. We are acutely aware of the need to balance investment and job creation, along with heritage and planning considerations,” he notes.

“It is clear that this development offers many economic, social and environmental benefits for the area. We are committed to driving investment to revitalise the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of Covid-19,” he adds.

Cape Town businessman and property developer, Jody Aufrichtig, has also defended the development in the media, saying it has taken the local community and First Nations into account as part of the planning process.

The development will include space for retail, office, and residential use, some of which will be allocated for inclusionary housing, and is expected to create around 5 200 jobs:

“This imminent development strikes [a] balance, with a combination of well-located residential and commercial opportunities, the rehabilitation of the degraded riverine corridor, improved links with surrounding ecological resources such as the Raapenberg Wetland and the establishment of a high quality green space that will be accessible to the public,” City of Cape Town notes in its statement.

“The proposed development will meet the requirements of inclusivity and integration. It combines various land uses and a mix of income groups by offering market-driven and affordable housing opportunities – the latter of which will be physically integrated with the other residential units in the apartment complexes,” it adds.

So far, nothing is set in stone as only the concept has been approved.

There are further stages going forward that also require approval.

[sources:moneyweb&businessinsider]