How the Island was lost and found again.

One of the most important lessons I learned in the last 20 years was to sometimes just move on and not cry too long as tears will cloud your vision !

The definition of the word release is spot on: allow or enable to escape from confinement; set free.

It was 2004 and I discovered an Island in the Berg River, called Ile Plaisance. The manmade island was situated in Port Owen, which lies between the towns of Laaiplek and Velddrift on the West Coast region of South Africa.

The area of the island is about 21 hectares, with a circumference of 3 km. The island is bounded on two sides by 2 km of private waterways and one side faces the Berg River.

The island was part of the original development of Port Owen. In 1999, the island was bought by a Belgium Consortium from the Owen Wiggins Trust Co. Ltd. and renamed Ile Plaisance.

But in 2004 the Belgium Consortium decided to sell the Island and I confirmed with their agent that we would like to make an offer. I was asked to submit my offer by the Thursday as the owners were on their way to Europe.

Offer prepared and ready to do a deal, I phoned their agent a day later to setup an appointment with the owners. I was told that they decided to sign another offer and that the Island is not for sale anymore.

I was so disappointed and furious that they accepted an offer while knowing we were submitting an offer. Losing opportunities have an huge emotional impact on me, especially if I could have submitted an offer earlier.

I also learned a lesson: Never allow a middle man agent to be your contact, always talk directly to the decision makers.

About 6 months later,Neno Haasbroek phoned me: “Would you like to develop an Island in the Berg River ?”

No way !!! The Island was sold to a cash purchaser, it can’t be the same Island !

Neno then send me a photo and I immediately realized it was the same island. The Island was bought by the Osman family and they were looking for someone to assist them as they discovered that the Island can’t be developed accordingly to the Western Cape Provincial Environmental Department.

I thought it was impossible and during a meeting with the Osman family, I asked them if they will be prepared to bring us in as a 50% partner if we can sort out the approval problem. We concluded an agreement and I briefed Advocate Nick Treurnicht SC about the view of the Province.

The Island was man made, infrastructure was installed a few years earlier and Nick agreed that Province is not correct in their approach. So, we set up a meeting with Paul Hardcastle from Province to discuss his views. At that point Nick was doing a lot of work for Province and his knowledge about zoning and environmental approvals was fantastic.

Paul did not know that we were bringing Advocate Nick Treurnicht to the meeting and when we arrived at the Provincial building, Nick showed us the way to the board room. Paul was approaching down the passage and greeted Nick and asked him if he is there for a meeting? Nick replied, “Yes, for the meeting about the Island”. Paul looked at Nick and said, “Thanks Nick, but we don’t need you at this meeting, it is a small issue”

Nick laughed and responded: “ Let’s quickly sort of the small issue, I am representing the developer today” Within 15 minutes, Paul agreed that he was wrong and that we have all the approvals in place to proceed with the development.

And this is how a special relationship with the Osman family started and the old Ile Plaisance Island was renamed to Admiral Island. Thank you Mamood Osman, Abu Osman and Fairoz Osman.

Admiral Island was developed in 2005 and consist of 191 plots of which two thirds are water-front stands.

Thanks to the vision and assistance of the Mayor Sanet Smit and the Bergriver Munisipality, we were able to launch a community project through Tjeka Training in Paarl. We committed the funds to train 80 unemployed people from Bergriver Municipality in different skills that can be used in the area.

The Berg River training project in 2007 won the SAPOA award for the best social and environmental development project in South Africa.

Lessons learned:

1. Never cry too long !

2. Always expect miracles !

3. Direct contact with the decision maker is critical !

4. The satisfaction to see 80 unemployed people receive certificates and their tool boxes, is better than what any deal making ever gave me.

Thank you Neno, if it was not for you !

Thank you also to Francois, Louis, Mark Mouton, Yasmin Omar-Meer, FrankStuyck, Soekie Goosen, Elrika Liebenberg and the professional team involved.

#Admiralisland Great work Jacques Malan!