Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
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The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (short: V&A Waterfront ) is a waterfront , consisting of a restored shipyard and harbor district around the two historic basins of the port of Cape Town in South Africa .
history
The two basins in Table Bay of the Atlantic Ocean were put into operation in 1870 and 1905 and were named in honor of the British Queen Victoria and her second son, Prince Alfred , who laid the foundation stone for the more than one kilometer on a trip through the British colonies in 1860 had laid a long breakwater wall in front of the harbor basin.
In 1990, after an extensive boycott of the port during the apartheid period, large areas of the port lay fallow. In cooperation with local investors, the city administration began to create a new infrastructure. In a short time, the old buildings were restored and housed a shopping center, small museums and rarity shops, a brewery and numerous dining facilities. In addition, stylistically adapted hotels, exclusive apartment and office buildings were built, as well as large parking spaces, a marina and a small amphitheater . In 1995 there were more than 15 million visitors from all over the world. In December 2003 Nobel Square was inaugurated with sculptures of the four South African Nobel Peace Prize winners .
In mid-2006, the owners of Waterfront, Transnet and the company's own pension funds, decided to sell. A consortium of different companies, with majority shareholders from Dubai, bought it for 7.04 billion rand (around 700 million euros at the time of sale). A total of nine applicants had qualified for the purchase, but the decision was made in favor of the L&R (London & Regional) Consortium, as its shareholders already had experience with similar projects such as The Palm , The World and the Dubai Waterfront in Dubai.
Since Black Economic Empowerment has to be observed with every takeover in South Africa , the composition of the owner consortium was based on membership of black people and companies in black hands. Overall, it breaks down as follows: Istithmar PJSC, an international real estate company, London & Regional Group Holdings, and 23.1 percent go to black owners and another two percent benefit the black employees of the Waterfront.
In the country, the sale was criticized because the waterfront is considered the prestige property in South Africa and was sold to foreign investors.
After less than five years, it was sold again on February 14, 2011. It went in equal parts to the South African investment company Growthpoint and the state pension company Public Investment Corporation (PIC) for 9.7 billion rand (around 980 million euros at the time of sale).
In 2014, the redesign of a silo building began, which was opened on September 22, 2017 as the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa .
business
There are diverse leisure and entertainment options in an atmosphere between street musicians, amateur actors, sailing yachts, incoming and outgoing excursion and fishing boats as well as cargo ships in the seaport, which is still in operation and where shipyard work is also carried out. One of the offers is the Two Oceans Aquarium . Helicopter tours over the city and the Cape Peninsula are offered.
Web links
- Official website (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ S.African landmark Waterfront sells for $ 1.3bn ( English ) 14 February 2011. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Accessed December 23, 2015.
Coordinates: 33 ° 54 ′ 16 ″ S , 18 ° 25 ′ 13 ″ E