The Amazing Record of Development

The Immo Desimpel development company of Belgium has a long and honourable history in Europe, going back nearly two centuries to a brickfield founded in Napoleonic times. The modern company, led by Aim Desimpel, has worldwide interests, particularly in tourism property development. Among the leading projects in this vein is a successful enterprise in partnership with South African interests - Amazing Estates of Plettenberg Bay.
"We have been in business here since 1998," says Amazing's Marketing Director Fred Arijs. "After a search of the Western Cape that lasted a couple of years, we finally discovered what we were looking for, the kind of thing we do best - property investment opportunities with a strong link to tourism. First we bought Sanderlings, on the Keurbooms River, plus the Whale Rock properties; 350 hectares in all."
Since then, Amazing Estates has established a record that speaks for itself . In the last two years 282 exclusive properties have been launched on to the market, and 245 of them have been sold. The remaining 13 per cent won't take long to sell, and the forthcoming launch of a new phase will provide year round work for the company's four full-time agents: Elton Chèze, Lies Hirschberg, Steven Sergeant and Louis Sonnekus.
"Amazing Estates is not focused exclusively on profit," says Fred Arijs. "Our investment is in the future - we want to build Plettenberg Bay and boost the local economy. When we first arrived, there were fears that we intended to impose unimaginative property developments on what is undoubtedly a very beautiful and fragile coastal area. But since then we have proved ourselves; the impact on nature has been minimised, and as we move on to further developments, we will continue to put the environment first. On many points, our own development guidelines are stricter than the municipal building regulations. At Amazing Estates we aim to maintain the fine balance between economic development and environmental impact. And so far, we have succeeded."