Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Zendai is set to break ground on its first luxury residential development in South Africa as part of its wider long-term 25- to 40-year plans to transform its expansive Modderfontein-based property into a 22 km² mixed-use ‘city’ in proximity to OR Tambo International Airport.

Shanghai Zendai subsidiary Zendai Development South Africa (ZDSA) aimed to start construction on the first phase of The Centenary during the first quarter of 2016, with completion expected early in 2017, ZDSA CEO Anthony Diepenbroek said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of the development, he explained that the modern one-, two- and three-bedroom units on offer would be spread across six blocks of six-storey buildings housed across landscaped parks and walkways, with the first phase opening the initial 150 of 300 “designer” apartments available to the market.

The 12 ha apartment estate would feature several amenities for residents, including a swimming pool, outdoor gym, clubhouse and children’s play areas, as well as expansive security features, biometric and closed-circuit television access control.

The apartments themselves would be equipped with imported Miele gas ovens, hobs and extractors, luxury sanitaryware, acoustic windows, high-speed fibre-optic and WiFi points and energy-efficient down lighters.

About R400-million had already been spent over the past year to establish roads, water and sewerage and electrical infrastructure, with the estate surrounded by a currently-under-construction 200-bed hospital, soon-to-be-built school, the Modderfontein Golf Course and Flamingo Dam and the proposed Modderfontein Gautrain station, the design of which was under way, with construction set to begin in 2017.

Apartments at The Centenary were priced from R1.15-million for a one-bedroom unit, R2.2-million for a two-bedroom unit and R2.8-million for a three-bedroom apartment.