Cape Town-based national property group Prosperito’s latest joint venture in the Eastern Cape will see the historic business heart of Port Elizabeth suburb Walmer, undergoing a major revival prompted by the development of a new R16 million office and lifestyle park on a previously undeveloped site.

Two double-storey buildings of 600m2 each are being built on a 1 500m2 site on the corner of Walmer’s 9th Avenue and Main Road.   Already, the top floor of one of the buildings has been bought by the well-known Eastern Cape Rushmere family group, owners of the Kariega Game Reserve, for their administrative headquarters.

The business park is being developed by a consortium including the landowner, Ray Long, whose nearby Bloomingdale’s Lifestyle Village has become a Port Elizabeth gardening and homewares hub.

The planning of the development, which is near to the former Walmer Town Hall, which had its heyday when the suburb was a separate municipality, and other prominent landmarks, has resulted in a revival of surrounding properties whose owners have begun or completed renovations and improvements.

MD of Prosperito, Gerhardt Jooste said that the developers’ vision for the new Bloomingdales precinct was to create a link between the office park and the nearby lifestyle nursery centre.  The emphasis was on creating top quality office accommodation within the serenity of a park-like environment. ‘The Bloomingdale’s Office and Lifestyle Park is going to be much more than just an office development, it will be a place where occupants will be able to actually go for a walk in the park.’ 

Prosperito is also undertaking major projects in the Eastern Cape including the Rosehill Mall in Port Alfred, the highly successful new student accommodation The Grand Res in Grahamstown and Fountains Mall in Jeffreys Bay, next to the company’s big new residential development Jubilee Estate.

Graham Rushmere, whose family business is one of the most prominent in the Eastern Cape, said he had been keenly anticipating relocating headquarters from Newton Park to this new strategic position in Walmer. ‘It just suits us 100 percent both for its position and as a ‘boutique’ office park that has a very prominent position and high visibility on a major artery.’

The design of the buildings, too, he said was an attraction, both blending in with existing historic landmarks and creating a modern counterpoint to the traditional architecture, with its glass and steel construction and unusual roof structure. The 300m2 entire top floor bought by the Rushmeres was sold on sectional title. 

PE businessman Ray Long, owner of the land and also the nearby garden and retail mecca Bloomingdale’s Lifestyle Village, said the business park consisted of units designed to be interlinked, similarly to the two units bought for the Rushmere headquarters. He said he had held the land for about eight years in anticipation of a need for commercial space.  Construction will be completed by the end of July.  He said the buildings could be subdivided into areas from 75m2 to the full building size of 600m2.