Gardens, Cape Town

Gardens at a glance

Gardens Area Profiling:

Gardens has an up-market feel and is a popular choice for your business due to its work, play and live concept.

Elevated on the periphery of the City Bowl, it is known as the "south" of the central business district (CBD), and is surrounded by the picturesque...

• Table Mountain,
• Signal Hill,
• Lion's Head and
• Devil's Peak.

Location:

• In Gardens you will be within close proximity to:
• the CBD,
• Green Point,
• Sea Point,
• Woodstock and Salt River,
• Observatory,
• Clifton,
• Camps Bay and Hout Bay.

Safety:

Gardens is a safe area with minimal reported crime and arguably one of the safest areas in the whole CBD.

This is due to most buildings contributing to the City Improvement District which acts as a central city security measure, examples can include CCTV surveillance on street corners, hired car-guards and increased security patrol.

Plant-based foodies:

Gardens is a vibrant area which sets its own plant-based trends, options here include:

• The Conscious Kitchen (33 Kloof Street),
• Nourish'd Café and Juicery (177 Kloof Street),
• Plant (8 Buiten Street)
• Lekker Vegan Kloof (Palmhof Shopping Centre, 105 Kloof Street).

Transport:

• Private shuttle services,
• Uber
• MyCiti Bus routes

Remain amongst the top methods of public transport in Gardens.

Although some Taxis do still operate in Gardens.

Infrastructure:

Gardens is central and offers quick access to the Atlantic Seaboard and Cape Town City Centre.

Traffic-flows fast to the N1/N2/M3 and M5.

Being the "South" it also connects quick to Clifton, Camps Bay and Hout Bay via the M62. Cape Town Harbour is roughly 13 minutes' drive from Gardens.

To catch a flight at the Cape Town International Airport, one is only looking at around 18 minutes' drive.

Amenities:

Amenities include:

• Gardens Shopping Centre.
• Lifestyle on Kloof Centre.

or for quick grocery shopping stop at:

• Palmhof shopping centre.

Gardens offers a variety of coffee shops, restaurants, bistros, art/décor/design/fashion retailers and famous hotels like the Five Star Mount Nelson Hotel.

In Gardens, you will never be short of something new to try.

There is also a Mediclinic and Booth Memorial hospital in the area in case of emergency.

Commercial property break-down, stay tuned for a cheat-guide as a tenant:

1. Retail:

Retail stores in Gardens offer you promising opportunities with plenty middle to high LSM traffic on car and foot, even during Covid.

Signage presents excellent exposure and visibility.

Street parking is plenty.

Diverse retail-types exist, and it can be worth the risk to bring your concept and take your share of the market.

If you are looking at a high-end retail centres with plenty foot traffic, be sure to ask Keith about Gardens Shopping Centre as well as the Lifestyle on Kloof Centre vacancies.

2. Office:

Being an elevated suburb south of the city centre, Gardens offers B-grade to premium A-grade office spaces with views of Cape Town's finest mountains as well as the inner-city centre but can also cater to the start-up business.

An iconic premium A-grade office and destination-retail building is Wembley Square located at 40 Solan Rd in Gardens, and an affordable popular A-grade choice is Earlgo House located at 42 Kloof Street.

3. Industrial:

Gardens is limited in Industrial space; one will most likely find factory/manufacturing type spaces with a goods lift.

Provide us with your requirements, and we can find you the perfect space.

Investing in Gardens:

Whether you are looking for pure-income or added-value investments, commercial properties in Gardens generally sell at fair-prices and let at fair rental rates.

In the current market, a prime-retail opportunity is golden.

Cheat-Guide for tenants looking for space in Gardens:

• Value-added tax (VAT) - most landlords are registered VAT vendors; therefore most advertised rentals require VAT to be added. A simple sum is to take the rental amount x1.15.

• Parking-bays - as parking bays are in high-demand in the CBD node, always be sure to ask about parking costs or to double-check the street parking availability.

• Water, Sewerage and refuse are generally charged to the tenant and are minimal costs but are dependent on the amount of water usage your business consumes.

• Electricity - generally charged to the tenant and are based on consumption, either metered or prepaid. Prepaid is always a bonus, but not a necessity.

• City Improvement District (CID) - generally charged to the tenant and are charged as a set fee or according to the participation quota (PQ) of the gross lettable area.
• Security fee - generally charged to the tenant (if applicable)

• Lease fees - always remember to check for the lease agreement draft fee with your broker, this is usually charged to the tenant, and can range anywhere from R2000-R2500 plus VAT.

Attractions in Gardens:

• For nature: The Company's Garden - Rose Garden & the restaurant, The VOC Vegetable Garden, De Waal Park (dog friendly park with trees and play area for children).

• For kids and seeing outer space: The Planetarium.

For art and history: Iziko South African Museum, South African National Gallery and The Gardens Shul (Oldest Jewish Congregation in South Africa)

Interesting history of Gardens:

When the Cape was being used as an anchorage for Portuguese, Dutch and British ships, the Dutch East India Company issued a mandate to Jan Van Riebeeck with the aim to establish a settlement which could provide passing ships with fruit, vegetables, and fresh meat.

The Company's master gardener laid out the first garden which crossed over the Fresh River (where Adderley Street is today) within the same year.

Within a few years it was 18 hectares in size.

As the produce grew, it was slowly converted into an ornamental and botanical garden.

Government Avenue is a world-known kilometre long street today, which is lined with oak trees and was previously used to vegetate lemons and oranges in the 1700s.