{"id":831066,"date":"2025-07-10T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=831066"},"modified":"2025-07-10T10:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T08:35:08","slug":"south-africas-millionaire-market-up-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/831066\/south-africas-millionaire-market-up-for-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s millionaire market up for sale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Popular Cape Winelands market and wine emporium, Root44 in Stellenbosch, is going up for sale in an exclusive sealed bidding process this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bids for the property open from 31 July, and final and binding offers close on 29 August. The sale is already drawing attention from local and international investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Root44 is a 5.1-hectare property located on the R44 between Stellenbosch and Somerset West, and is a well-known tourism market in the area, originally built to showcase the wares of surrounding wine farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market is located on Audacia farm in Stellenbosch, a millionaire hotspot surrounded by sweeping wine estates, including the historic Rust en Vrede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its roots can be traced to big names such as billionaire banker Paul Harris, who co-owned the farm with farmer Trevor Strydom\u2014the original backers of the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site is now being brought to market by the original developers, facilitated by Galetti Corporate Real Estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to John Jack, CEO of Galetti, the market is under pressure to source standout properties that appeal to both local and international investors, and Root44 has drawn a lot of attention from both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It has been both a Wine Emporium and a Tourism market where locals and foreigners alike come to experience the best Stellenbosch has to offer from both a culinary and viticulture point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With over R200 million invested in the property since 2016<\/strong>, Root 44 has seen consistent foot traffic as thousands of visitors arrive each week for the bustling food markets, live music, retail stalls and family entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also features a Wine Emporium, oyster bar, caf\u00e9 and full restaurant, all framed by the region\u2019s vineyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack said the site could easily become a flagship asset for a corporate brand or hospitality and tourism investor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this comes with a significant caveat: the property is not currently zoned for retail or hospitality, making it a tricky location to navigate, requiring approvals from the municipality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Land use issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Jack, the site has flexibility, in that it could be repositioned as a retail hub, boutique hospitality offering or a conference and events venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this would be subject to rezoning and approvals by the Stellenbosch Municipality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Root44 has been mired in controversy over the past few years due to disputes with the Stellenbosch Municipality around land use rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the municipality<\/strong><\/a>, the original development was granted rights in 2009 to develop a small tourist destination to showcase wines from local farms, which would become the Root44 Wine Emporium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in 2012, there was a further application to use the land for retail purposes. At the time, the Wine Emporium had not yet been established, so this was granted, becoming the Root44 Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, when the developers wanted to make the market a permanent feature, the municipality allowed this on condition that the original Wine Emporium plans be dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality was of the view that the facility could only manage one or the other, not both, with concerns that a larger facility would continue to develop into a commercial node, disrupting the rural surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the municipality, the developers disregarded this and continued to establish both facilities, opening the Wine Emporium in 2020\u2014hence, the dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the development grew in popularity, more disputes arose, with complaints from the surrounding community<\/strong><\/a> about noise and the disruption of the peace becoming more common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This background will be crucial for any investor considering a bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The key here will be to work with the Stellenbosch municipality to deliver an asset that serves and promotes Stellenbosch as both a tourism and global wine destination,” Jack said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, he said the site has huge potential to generate economic upliftment for the area and position Stellenbosch internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Root44 photos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The upmarket Root44 emporium in the heart of the Stellenbosch Winelands is going on sale through an exclusive sealed bidding process this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":831076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[16382,23091],"class_list":["post-831066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-galetti-corporate-real-estate","tag-root44"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831066"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":831088,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831066\/revisions\/831088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}