NEWS FROM INFRAMAX

INFRAMAX INVESTMENTS CONTINUE TO GROW THEIR PORTFOLIO

Inframax Investments, a company formed five years ago to complement the group’s development company, has added a further property to its portfolio.

The company has acquired 354 Voortrekker Road, Maitland, a double storey warehouse, retail and office complex, with 1 253m2 of floor space.

Inframax Investments Executive Director, Colin Plit, who has spearheaded the group’s drive into commercial property investment, said that 354 Voortrekker Road’s one major tenant, Packit Packaging, who are reliable and respected, have just renewed their lease on 1 188m2 for a further three years.

However, said Plit, as with most of their properties Inframax Investments has acquired these premises because they offer potential for value adding. Inframax Investments will be upgrading an existing 65m2 section to create an additional retail outlet with offices on the upper floor as well as an additional warehouse area.

Plit said that the new space will be ideal for a company that is involved in both retail and wholesale trading, i.e. that needs both display and storage areas.

Inframax’s decision to become commercial property investors had, he said, paid off handsomely: the company now has a portfolio worth almost R200 million.

However, acquiring industrial and commercial properties with upgrade potential has been difficult, he said, because as elsewhere in South Africa, these had until recently been in a seller’s market where prices routinely were “too high”.

“Now with the market conditions softening,” he said, “it should once again be possible to find better priced properties with value add potential.”

John Weaver, an Inframax Investments director, said that the company intends to continue building its portfolio and is looking for new investments.

“As Colin Plit has explained, we look primarily for properties which offer potential for being given a new lease of life. The demand for reasonably priced new offices in former industrial or warehousing space is now particularly good, especially in the Ndabeni, Maitland, Goodwood and Parow areas. Our own Sunrise Park is currently achieving R70 per m2 on office space and R45 per m2 on warehouse space and the indications are that rentals here will continue to rise.”

Asked if Inframax Investments would consider investing outside of the Cape Town area, Weaver said that Inframax Developments has operations in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Province, all of which could introduce the group’s investment company to new opportunities – but, he said, the success at Cape Town has been, at least in part, due to their hands-on management and they would have to be careful to find equally competent managers for any non-Cape projects.


For further information contact John Weaver on 021 530 5760.