South Africa

Say goodbye to the V&A Waterfront as you know it

Shaun Jacobs • 29 November 2025

The V&A Waterfront continues to show strong growth, with its owners investing heavily in new projects that are set to expand its hotel space, upgrade its infrastructure, and add a new luxury wing to the Victoria Wharf.

This was revealed by Growthpoint in its investor update for the three months ended 30 September 2025, which provided an update on the company’s plans to reduce its exposure to the office sector.

The crown jewel of Growthpoint’s retail assets is its 50% stake in the V&A Waterfront, with the other 50% owned by the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).

Growthpoint said the V&A Waterfront’s performance continues to be impacted by the redevelopment of the Table Bay Hotel.

This hotel is set to be reopened as an InterContinental-branded hotel in December 2025, with its reopening taking place in a phased manner.

The redevelopment has limited the V&A’s earnings growth to some extent, with its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) growing by 5% compared to the same period in 2024.

However, like-for-like EBIT growth was much stronger at 16% year-on-year, driven by an 8% rise in retail sales, which boosted turnover-based rental income.

Growthpoint also noted a strong performance from the other hotels in the Waterfront, with average daily rates increasing by 16% year-on-year.

The Waterfront has also maintained zero office vacancies for the three months, which is exceptional considering the company’s broader office portfolio has a vacancy rate of 14.6%.

Growthpoint and its co-owner are investing heavily in expanding the Waterfront and enhancing its offering to build on to the existing precinct.

This includes a substantial investment in a desalination plant, which has been successfully commissioned and operational since mid-March 2025. It generated 3.3 kilolitres of water per day.

The company also expects the redevelopment of the new luxury wing of the Victoria Wharf to be completed in December 2025, with a phased opening to follow.

Apart from the redevelopment of the Table Bay Hotel, a new luxury Quay 7 hotel is on track to open in June 2026, with 142 rooms available.

Another residential development, 5 Dock Road, is expected to be completed in January 2026. Nearly all of the apartments have already been sold.

These investments and continued tourism growth are expected to translate into faster earnings growth from the V&A Waterfront in the 2026 financial year.

Granger Bay expansion

The myriad of new developments within the existing V&A Waterfront is coupled with a R20 billion expansion of the adjacent Granger Bay precinct.

With permission received from the local council to increase its development rights ot 440,000 m², the expansion has begun.

This expansion plan is almost as valuable as the entire existing V&A Waterfront, which is estimated to be worth over R23 billion.

The historic Granger Bay precinct lies to the west of the V&A and includes the Oranjezicht City Farm Market, which would move by about 200 meters from its current location to make way for the new developments.

Oranjezicht has already had its last Wednesday night market on 26 November, with it moving across the road to its new premises as part of the development.

The new custom-built site is home to over 100 traders and 3500 livelihoods. All of the stalls have received serious makeovers, and some sites have extraction fans for food traders.

This is part of the phase ‘zero’ of the development, which focuses on the enablement work, including marine construction and infrastructure at a cost of R189.5 million.

Phase one includes a R121 million basement behind the Table Bay Hotel, the redevelopment of the hotel, and the new Quay 7 luxury hotel.

The Granger Bay phase will feature a new seawall, breakwaters, and public amenities such as tidal pools and promenades.

Phase zero’s marine works are set to prepare the site for land reclamation, with the seawall being 540 metres long and two breakwaters extending deeper into Table Bay. The seawall and breakwater will be constructed in phases over roughly three years.

In total, around 3.2 hectares of land is expected to be reclaimed from Table Bay, with additional harbour space for boating, kayaking, and swimming.

Proposed land-based amenities will include a coastal public walkway, a slipway, a fixed quayside, a landscaped promenade, tidal pools, pedestrian paths and open areas.

A new mixed-use development is proposed on the portion of the site currently located within 100 m of the highwater mark, which will accommodate residential, hotel, leisure and commercial uses.

The V&A has said previously that the development will be supported by various existing transport systems, such as the MyCiTi bus service.

It expects that no major access roads or external road network upgrades will be required to support the project.