Fresnaye pad has a view — and 22 parking bays
● A good sea view means nothing on Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard unless you’ve got the parking to match.
This may explain the curious listing on the Fresnaye market — a three-bedroomed penthouse apartment that comes with 22 parking bays.
With a price tag of $14m (about R264m), the property and its generous parking do not come cheap. But that much off-street parking is sure to be the envy of many residents in a neighbourhood where a single bay is worth more than a home in other parts of the city.
A single bay in nearby Clifton costs well more than R1m, while closer to Sea Point the going rate is between R300,000 and R500,000.
The penthouse apartment is the jewel in the crown of The Estate development, not far from a palatial home owned by President Cyril Ramaphosa (the president has less parking). According to its listing on top property site Mansion Global, the penthouse features a long list of amenities, including: “A rooftop deck with a pool, a private elevator framed in glass, big ocean, mountain and city views and a sleek Ferrari-themed cinema room finished with embossed metalwork, an original gas pump and a fully equipped bar area.”
The apartment takes up the entire fourth and fifth floors of half of the two-building Estate development.
The rooftop level contributes to 305m2 of exterior space which has sweeping views over the ocean to the west, and behind to Lion’s Head.
“It’s a great place for entertaining — it could be all upstairs, with the family downstairs,” property agent Serge Cowan says in his listing commentary.
The Estate, completed in 2020 by developers Paul and Saul Berman, is billed as the ultimate upmarket Cape Town development — and possibly the greatest development ever if you believe the immodest blurb on the Berman Bros website: they (the Berman brothers) looked internationally for the ultimate benchmark and asked themselves, “What is the best of the best that’s out there? Now, how can we do better?” the website says.
In 2014 a single Clifton undercover parking bay sold for R1.5m, the Sunday Times reported in 2017. Prices have almost certainly risen since.
One property source this week said the penthouse parking bonanza was most likely the result of surplus parking in the development. “Most of my clients would be happy with between five and eight bays — that is more than enough,” the source said.
Despite the huge premium on Atlantic seaboard parking, 22 bays appear to be beyond the reach of most buyers — the apartment has yet to be sold after some time on the market, the source said.
The UK-based global luxury property Group DDRE, which is marketing the property, declined to respond to questions.