Beach Café launched as part of plan to restore golden mile

The Durban Beach Café premium lounge was officially opened on Friday November 22, marking a milestone in the city’s effort to enhance the beachfront as a key tourism asset.

In September, the city renewed the lease of the Southern Sun Elangeni and Maharani Hotels with a capital investment of R1 billion. More upgrades are on the cards to restore Durban’s golden mile to one of the best in the world.

Mayor Cyril Xaba officially opened the café with Sadha Naidoo, the CEO of Calypso Group.

“This property was part of the first batch of properties to be advertised in 2021 after the eThekwini Municipal Council took a resolution to adopt the Proactive Land Release Strategy. Calypso Property Investment which is a 100% black-owned company was appointed as the preferred bidder for the long-term leasing and redevelopment of the property for a period of nine years and 11 months,” the Mr Xaba said.

The opening of the Durban Beach Café premium lounge was a major step forward for the city’s grand plans for the beachfront, he added.

“Our main goal is to give all our assets in this precinct a major facelift so that they meet international standards. Very soon we will be announcing bold plans about Joe Cools, The Deck and Fun World,” said Mr Xaba.

Mr Naidoo said the redeveloped venue now had a total capacity of 450, with both indoor and outdoor curated spaces.

“Durban Beach Café premium lounge is the second phase of the development, in which we have invested R11 million, funded by the National Empowerment Fund. This has resulted in the creation of 44 sustainable jobs with more employed temporarily during the busy periods,” said Mr Naidoo.

“We are committed to ensuring that our staff are fully capacitated with an accredited skills development programme and sourcing our suppliers from previously disadvantaged communities.”

Mr Naidoo said he believes Durban beachfront is one of the best in the world, and in partnership with the city, they can restore the popularity of the beachfront so that it talks to the tourism objectives.

Mr Xaba said these developments were key to the city’s plans to rejuvenate the inner city.

In September this year, the city released 34 properties to the market, inviting proposals from the private sector to develop and redevelop properties. That process will close next month.

“The same will be done with state-owned buildings as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure signed recently. In total, we have identified 149 properties for disposal and 91 have either been released already or currently out for Request for Proposals. All these initiatives indicate that we are committed to make Durban the premier tourist and investment destination,” Mr Xaba said.