{"id":850198,"date":"2026-02-14T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=850198"},"modified":"2026-02-16T12:46:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:46:03","slug":"one-of-the-most-valuable-pieces-of-land-in-south-africa-making-over-r30-million-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/850198\/one-of-the-most-valuable-pieces-of-land-in-south-africa-making-over-r30-million-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the most valuable pieces of land in South Africa \u2013 making over R30 million a day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The V&A Waterfront is considered one of the most valuable areas in South Africa, generating over R11 billion in retail sales in 2025, which works out to just over R30 million a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Waterfront was established in the mid-19th century. It is named after Queen Victoria and her second son, Prince Alfred, who initiated the construction of Cape Town\u2019s harbour in 1860.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Cape Town served as an important stopover for ships travelling between Europe and the East, but the harbour was exposed to severe winter storms, leading to frequent shipwrecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To improve safety and capacity, the British colonial administration developed a breakwater and two harbour basins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victoria Basin was completed in 1869, followed by the Alfred Basin in 1905. These developments established the harbour as a key component of South Africa\u2019s trade, fishing and naval infrastructure for much of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1988, Transnet, then operating as Portnet, established the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Company to redevelop the historic docklands into a mixed-use precinct. This marked the beginning of the modern V&A Waterfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major ownership change took place in 2011, when Growthpoint Properties acquired a 50% stake in the V&A Waterfront, with the Public Investment Corporation holding the remaining 50% on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transaction, valued at approximately R9.6 billion, was the largest single property deal in South Africa at the time. Since then, the precinct\u2019s value and income have increased steadily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the V&A Waterfront supports more than 83,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributes over 1.5% to the Western Cape\u2019s GDP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announcing the precinct\u2019s latest milestones, V&A Waterfront CEO Graham Wood said the numbers point to a resilient and growing neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe welcomed 25 million visitors in 2025, matching the previous year despite significant development, construction and infrastructure upgrades across the precinct,\u201d Wood said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven without the completion of our luxury retail wing, the V&A achieved more than R11 billion in retail sales in 2025, up 7%, another year of excellent growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massive growth expectations <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Wood, who took over as CEO this year<\/a>, brings experience from senior roles at Sun International, Tsogo Sun and Valor Hospitality Partners in the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that 2025 ended with a New Year\u2019s Eve celebration livestreamed by global internet star IShowSpeed, whose broadcast drew more than 47 million views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was incredible exposure for the V&A, Cape Town and South Africa,\u201d Wood said. The reopening of the InterContinental Table Bay Cape Town in December, following a 10-month conversion, added further momentum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemand across our 13 hotels remained robust over the festive period, with December occupancies a healthy 69%, reinforcing the V&A Waterfront\u2019s strength as a global tourism destination,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, he said 2026 will be marked by the opening of the long-awaited luxury retail wing, along with the launch of the EDITION, Cape Town hotel in the third quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will deliver a new benchmark in contemporary luxury, interfacing seamlessly with our new superyacht basin scheduled to open in October,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cruise tourism is also playing a growing role. In 2025, the Cape Town Cruise Terminal welcomed 74 vessels, 126,000 passengers and 45,000 crew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the short-term impact of geopolitical developments on cruising, there is long-term growth potential in the cruise market,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Cape Town\u2019s global profile continues to rise, supported by strong international air access and collaboration between government and industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTourism is a key economic driver, contributing 9% of GDP and supporting about 1.8 million jobs,\u201d Wood said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe V&A is proud of its leading role in the sector, and we confidently expect 2026 to be another year of growth, with benefits for jobs, small businesses, and the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The V&A Waterfront in photos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the iconic South African precinct that made R11 billion in one year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":850207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[853,21986],"class_list":["post-850198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-south-africa","tag-the-va-waterfront"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850198","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851083,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850198\/revisions\/851083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}