Development at Kindlewood Estate

25 July 2017

From his first visit to Kindlewood Estate in 2008, Geoff Perkins of the Collins Group tells us how the estate has flourished over the years.

I was first introduced to Kindlewood Estate in 2008 by Soo Meyer representing Tongaat Hulett Developments. I had a very good feel about the potential of this estate from the outset and shortly after my first visit, I convinced Richard Currie from SAPRO to partner with my team on two development sites. We decided to design and launch Norfolk Valley shortly after we took transfer and the development had exceptional uptake with over 70% sold at our launch event at Pani Dam.

Unfortunately, the economic squeeze of 2009 took its toll with many purchasers unable to secure their funding, but we took the decision to build Norfolk Valley anyway and we rented the unsold units. After a few years, SAPRO decided to exit their residential interests in the province which included the site now known as The Wolds within Kindlewood Estate and another development called Emberton Estate in Hillcrest, now under construction. I was fortunate to team up with renowned property developer Murray Collins from Collins Residential Property, a family run business that has been around for some four generations, and so the purchase of SAPRO’s interests were finalised. The uptake at The Wolds was extremely positive and so we purchased another site within Kindlewood Estate known as The Links and this will be complete end of July. It was during the design of The Links that we met an American property developer who educated us on what he called the “tidal wave of retirees property and their needs and services”. We investigated the opportunity thoroughly looking at global trends and needs and found that the Umhlanga precinct had room for a high quality retirement development offering the very best in care, amenities and security, all the things important to someone looking for this move. Kindlewood Estate immediately jumped to mind and so we started chatting to Tongaat Hulett about the possibility. Here we are now with construction having started on what is a R750 million project offering unique homes and the very best care on offer all within a top security estate. We are delighted to still be a part of the Kindlewood Estate family as we were in the very beginning when we welcomed the first homeowners to this wonderful estate.