The Rabie Group has been appointed as overall managers of the park and have brought on board two specialist property managers, including Wendy Hartshorne Consulting and Commlife.

Wendy Hartshorne are strategic asset managers focusing on the development planning aspects of the site, while Commlife are managing the retail facility Capricorn Square, which has been built at the Prince George Drive gateway to Capricorn.

Leisure and residential components are also being planned on the sea-fronting part of the site.

Capricorn Park was originally conceived in 1997 and the first transfer of property took place in 2000. Capricorn Park had a slow start as a result of the information technology industry crash.

The park is now no longer primarily a science and technology site as first envisaged, as its scope is being broadened to include commercial, office and industrial components.

Negotiations for the first fully fledged office block regional headquarters for a franchise company are now advanced.

The first land sale under new management has been concluded and involves the sale of a 10855m² site to Pyrotech, a printing technology company.

This follows a land deal with Austrian company KNP, which has developed its own building and have been in the business park for a year.

Wendy Hartshorne says they have been concluding a deal every month, which is in line with their target. She says there is a maximum of 70000m² of floor space available for manufacturing development, and they expect to sell out in about three years.

The new management attributes the shifting sentiments towards Capricorn in part to the improved outlook for the southern and southeastern region of the peninsula as a whole.

They say this has been evident in, among other things, the recent rapid sell-out of a number of large residential developments in the area and the proposals for an extensive upgrade of Muizenberg and surrounds.

Hartshorne says Capricorn was one of the last development opportunities for environmentally friendly industries in the southern suburbs and that inquiries had been streaming in. Investment has totalled about R100m and there are about 400 people working at the park.