Abstract
The Point Waterfront is one of the most stunning pieces of real estate in the city of Durban. Not more than two square miles in size, it is bounded on one side by the harbor and the Indian Ocean on the other. Protecting the area is the Bluff that lies on the south side of the harbor entrance. To the west rise the residential and then commercial buildings of central Durban. Along the coast to the north are Durban’s famous beaches – which when working well are South Africa’s most democratic spaces in terms of racial and class desegregation. Today there are extremely high hopes for redeveloping this historic site, one spotted from the sea by Vasco da Gama when he sailed by in 1497, and subsequently once the sand bar was cleared, the entryway to the continent’s largest container port. One of the most famous scenes of white-on-white violence in South Africa unfolded here in 1842: the month- long siege of the Point’s Fort Victoria at the British Colony Port Natal (now Durban, also called eThekwini Metro) by what later came to be known as Afrikaners. Now, mayor Zandile Gumede predicts, redevelopment of “The Point Waterfront will completely change the landscape of Durban and position it as a global city and boost tourism profile. Cities are viewed as critical economic nodes and as stable to attract investment.”2 The revitalization process had begun about three years earlier, when Point property developer Herman Chalupsky claimed it would soon be “on par with Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, the Docklands in London, New York’s Meatpacking District, San Francisco’s Pier 68 and other rejuvenated dockside areas across the world. We are very excited because this will be the most sought-after area in all of Durban.”3 Unfortunately for Gumede, those seeking real estate investment opportunities were looking less favorably at the Point than anywhere else in bankable South Africa. A December 2018 property survey labeled the Point Waterfront “the weakest-performing suburb countrywide,” as a typical unit lost 21 percent of value in real terms over the prior five years. According to Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, “Prices could be beyond the budget of the young professionals who are the natural target market… The state of surrounding Central Business District areas — rejuvenation has been promised but hasn’t happened — will have contributed to lack of interest. And the Waterfront cannot be accessed without passing through the CBD, which is a deterrent for some buyers.