Clairwood gone. R430 mill.

www.iol.co.za/news/politics/decision-mad...e-s-future-1.1303769

SA Time: Thu May 24 2012 10:33:19 GMT+0200 (W. Europe Daylight Time)

Decision made on racecourse’s future

May 24 2012 at 10:25am
By Gugu Mbonambi


Durban’s 91-year-old Clairwood racecourse site looks set to be transformed into a new warehouse and distribution centre to service the new dig-out port at the old international airport.

After months of speculation about the future of the racecourse, Capital Property Fund director Andrew Teixeira confirmed on Wednesday that the Gold Circle group had accepted his company’s offer to buy the racecourse for R430 million.

“We would like to develop a logistics park. With the dig-out port development our planning is around warehousing and distribution,” he said.

Teixeira said Capital Property Fund’s core business was property, so the racecourse had caught their attention because of its prime location next to the harbour and industrial area.

Gold Circle chairman Robert Mauvis said the sale had the blessing of its membership, although the deal still needed approval from the Competition Board.

However, the sale is also dependent on a successful re-zoning of the land and an environmental impact assessment, and local ratepayers and environmental groups signalled last night that the proposed new land use was likely to be opposed by them.

Mauvis said the racecourse would be leased to Gold Circle for the next two years as part of the agreement of sale, during which time the Greyville racecourse would be upgraded and improved.

“The track and condition of the Clairwood racecourse will of course be maintained during this period and we will move the stables. The two-year lease kickback works in our favour so that we can build new stables,” he said.

Teixeira said that after the two-year lease expired, it would take about a year for Capital Property Fund to fully develop the site.

According to the eThekwini Municipality’s development planning, environment and management department, the racecourse is zoned as “private open space”.

Unhappy

Mauvis said the application to the Competition Board could take between four weeks and three months to be approved.

“In my opinion, the transactions should all go through by the end of August. This is very exciting news for racing in the province… We will restructure the business and focus on two racecourses,” he said.

The new stables would be built at the Summerveld Training Centre.

Gold Circle operates the Greyville and Clairwood Park racecourses in Durban and Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg. Mauvis said having three racecourses was no longer financially viable. “Having three racecourses is an expensive business; it is expensive to maintain a racecourse.”

The Clairwood property has been on the market for years. It caught the attention of developers because of its prime position near the South Durban Basin industries and the old airport.

Clairwood Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman Rishi Singh said it would oppose any industrial development on the racecourse site that added to the existing load of air pollution in the South Durban Basin area.

“The developers must consult residents before development takes place because the (South Durban Basin) is one of the most polluted areas in South Africa. Any development that involves carbon emissions would be detrimental to residents,” he said.

Singh said the association would also strongly oppose any development that attracted more trucks to the area and he called on the government to ensure that goods were transported via rail.

Desmond D’Sa, of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, indicated previously that the alliance would protest if Gold Circle sold the racecourse without consulting residents. The racecourse, built in 1921, was the only remaining large “green lung” in an area surrounded by petro-chemical and chemical industries.

Calshelf Investments 216, a subsidiary of Cavaleros, had offered to buy the prime plot for a price between R220m and R275m, depending on the time taken to conclude the deal.

But the Cavaleros group’s offer was countered by Capital Property Trust, a property unit trust established in 1984.

According to the company’s website, Capital Property Fund acquired Pangbourne Properties in March 2011 and has since become one of the largest property funds in SA, focusing on industrial and commercial projects. - The Mercury

Very sad to see this race course go! In the near future we ganna have to pull out of photo of the course somewhere......just like we did witht eh Milnerton course yesterday (td)

good riddens to that shit course pity we have to have 2 more years of it...

how did SAF racing afford all those racecourses then and cannot manage now - for a once a week spectacle. ?? rhetoric Q, no response required.

word is cavaleros came with a counter offer 11 mil higher but was not given the time of day so the comp0any is thinking about court action ..hopefully this doesnt come about as that can take another 4 to 5 years but their is a very unhappy greek around...considering he made the first offer and was seen to be the saviour who can blame him....i have full faith in our world class board to have covered all angles plus rumours of gold circle capetown expecting a handout if the sale goes through ...in 50 years time gold circle will be a case study for how not to run a company and im sure the kids studying it will think its some kind of april fools day joke of how a company was run in the 21st century

Thank goodness for this reponse- For a moment I thought that they had somehow indoctrinated you wirelessly through the internet Pirates.

But to continue in the vain of your first post - At least, barring court and environmental action, we will have full blown Gynae chair racing from Greyville instead of the rubbish run at Clairwood in two years from now.

Pirates,
I think you are totally wrong in regards to Clairwood.It over the years was the best course to back winners in Natal.It had some of the best trainers training from there, such as the Passmore family Gorton etc .All the Cape trainers will regret thec closing of Clairwood ,but i dont care about them because every natal based trainer that went to Cape Town with his string was treated by the Cape AUTHORITY AS DIRT

Clairwood is pirates fav course bob,lil bit of sarcasm in his post

Well caught Pirates! Not a bad fisherman. Been waiting to see who took the bait.

I don't know all the history or the politics... but I think... stuff the flower course, the crap vaal sand, and other undulating donkey tracks with bias due to water or seesaw rides or draw bias or whatever.
Build new courses, on cheap land far from suburbia cause no one goes to the course, dead straight except for looong races, and artificial surface. Lower the number of runners, pay the grooms better, put some spank in the look, and forget the past.
We not living in the past where our only option at a punt is backing a horse. I can back two flies up the wall nowadays.... and Phumela must show profits for its share holders and they will make decisions based upon any advise their bean counters meter.
I can't wait for the new track at Greyville. Next target.. the inside Mafia of racing.
Its like having a genie in the blackjack shoe... mind boggling that people actually punt per form while others punt in the know.
Tennis, golf, rugby anyone?