Hatfield Pretoria
Hatfield in
Pretoria – The undervalued suburb surrounding the University of Pretoria is
crying out for vision and redevelopment.
Hatfield
Pretoria
As a long
standing resident of the Hatfield suburb – Scott Cochrane and the Cochrane
family are long time Arcadia Street residents in Hatfield. Anyone who knows
this suburb well would know there are only a few family homes in the suburb,
where investor and with this being close to the corner of Arcadia Street in
Hatfield, the landmark Richard Street in Hatfield is home to the old Hatfield
Cattle Dip, entrances to the University sports and Future Africa entrances. We
as the Cochrane family have visited the University Sports ground even before
the University of Pretoria High Perfomance centre or Hatfield Plaza (pick ‘n
pay) were planned or built. COVID 19 and the ability and option offered to work
from home during the pandemic, the construction and further expansion of the
Gautrain, Uber, Bolt, easy pedestrian access to the Main University campus on
Hatfield and University of Pretoria Sports Campus, and Engineering 4,
Gautrain’s planned e-hailing expansion, fibre internet connectivity,
Convenience of grocery deliveries to your door, TakeAlot and Amazon, expanded
Hatfield CID, Omega Security and university funded security patrols. Community
involvement and community whatsapp groups, Ward 56 council involvement and the
upgraded and updated Spatial development framework and the City Of Tshwane’s
renewed call for investment Univeristy and Private into the Hatfield suburb
have not gone unheard. There are still a number of larger land parcels
available in Hatfield.
Scott
Cochrane is the go to guy when new student accommodation, potential townplanning
allowances, approved townplanning and available options in Hatfield are
considered.
When
thinking of the greater Hatfield suburb, the Burnett street strip between
Grovenor street in the west and Festival street in the West, the area including
the Hatfield Square, COT satellite monitoring offices, and Prospect street Pedestrian and motor gate
access to the Hatfield University of Pretoria campus.
We would
not like to think of 2 sections to Hatfield, but truth be told the retail
offering, institutional student accommodation offering do require some some
visionary thinking - alas the plans are always 2035 or 2050 vision which some
might consider to be an eye blind, or potential delay in investment
obligations, while waiting on the business community to step in and assist to
build quality modern purpose built
student accommodation in the Jacaranda lined streets of hatfield. The hatfield
enclave which is East of Jan Shoba street, has Jan Shoba street as its Border
in the west, Richard street and End street as the eastern border, Boundary lane
as the southern most border - Next to DSG school and Glyn Lane as the Northern
Most border.
This suburb
would make for world class student apartment blocks and has been pitched as
such in the past but not supported.
The office
spaces closer to the Embassy offices and Gautrain station to the west of
Gautrain Hatfield attract a healthy tenant mix such as the RAF // Prasa
building in Hatfield. Ext to the Shell filling station. Post Covid 19 and the ability to work
remotely or as a digital nomad, Hatfield would need some vision to adapt to the
current needs, requirements and preferred requirements of the Student and
business community of Hatfield. The Hatfield CID have shared their vision for
the suburb as an interested and affected party with the dwindling older
residential community mainly still resident on Arcadia Street between glyn
street and Richard street - as Arcadia Street in Hatfield is the main
pedestrian route to the Gautrain hatfield Station (2 city blocks) from this
student accommodation future development site. There are many examples in the
grater hatfield suburb where the suburb’s rapidly development has been misread
by developers in recent years, resulting in either abandoned buildings..
Misreading the market in Hatfield would mean purpose built structures where
repurposing into fit for purpose building without institutional funding and
vision are simply not viable.
Development
in the suburb at Spatial development framework meetings is promised but
delayed. Consensus is that the suburb offers value to any would be investor
looking for the growth around the Gautrain Hatfield Station.
Developers
conducting Hatfield due diligence studies in conjunction with the spatial
development framework can find value in the suburb due to its central location
and proximity to Tuks Sport and University of Pretoria Main Campus. The main
campus of the University of Pretoria is situated in the heart of Hatfield, thus
giving rise to a high student population, creating an active market for older
student accommodation apartments. Hatfield is also home to many foreign
embassies, while the Loftus Versveld rugby stadium is within close proximity
about 1.8km from the earmarked development site on Richard Street and Arcadia
Street in Hatfield. Feedback from university of Pretoria Staff, Facilities and
maintenance University of Pretoria Employees was that if the opportunity exists
to live closer to work and cycle or walk to the Hatfield campus existed around
half of the staff who responded to the survey would relish the opportunity.
Hatfield Pretoria
offers easy access to the N1 and N4
freeways. Pretoria Central, Centurion, the Menlyn node and the ever expanding
Pretoria East are all withing easy reach of the Hatfield transport node. The
suburb is also within close proximity to Arcadia, Brooklyn and Lynnwood with
the upgraded Ford Silverton factory only a short drive away. There is easy
access to three airports, namely O.R. Tambo, Wonderboom regional airport and Lanseria
airport.
Hatfield
Plaza, Hatfield Square, Hillcrest Boulevard, Queens Corner Spar and Queens
Quarter Checkers, The Motor dealerships
such as Hatfield Group’s Volkswagen, Hatfield Group’s Audi, Hatfield Group’s
MG, Hatfield Group’s Geely, Hatfield Group’s Omoda Jetour Hatfield, GWM haval
hatfield, Hatfield Ford, Ngiri Auto, Foton Hatfield, Kia Hatfield, Hatfield
Master Cars, Bidvest McCarthy Toyota Hatfield, Urology Hospital Hatfield, BB
Suzuki Hatfield, Squadcars hatfield, CMH honda Hatfield, Chery Hatfield, CMH
Jac Hatfield, BB Byd Hatfield, Jetour Hatfield, BB Nissan Hatfield, Hyundai
Hatfield, Tiger Wheel and Tyre Hatfield, Bike Locker at the Hatfield Gautrain
Station, Renault Hatfield, BB mahindra Hatfield, Biking Accessories, while
law firms, like Findlay & Niemeyer Inc and Klagsbrun de Vries Inc, have
been present for many years.
There are
at least four top public schools, one private school and AFDA is also, in close
proximity. “Municipal bus transport is readily available,” confirms
Breytenbach, “and the Bus Rapid Transit or BRT system will be up and running in
the not too distant future. The Gautrain provides adequate parking space for
commuters while Gautrain buses traverse a wide area.” There is good
infrastructure in the area and facilities are more than adequate to cater for
the needs of the employees who work there.
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