New life for notorious Ballito beachfront property

The derelict ‘Big Blue’ building next to The Galley on the beach front is set to become Ballito’s brand new Ocean Basket restaurant.

Residents driving down Compensation Beach Road will have noticed construction crews at work on the building, which has stood vacant for many years and has been the focus of much frustration.

Scarlet Skye Investments (PTY) Ltd’s Jack Mandzavinos told The Courier that they are currently redeveloping the building.

“I live between Pretoria and Simbithi and I thought that the position of the building was prime and that the way that it was neglected and left to decay was a shame and a complete waste of an opportunity to improve the beachfront. We purchased the building and decided to re-design it from scratch.

“Due to the state that it was in our civil engineer instructed that we refurbish from foundation level, which is what we are currently busy with. The construction company which we appointed is the Ciocca Group, headed up by Luca Ciocca who is currently busy with some very impressive developments in the Ballito/Sheffield area.”

Mandzavinos said going forward there will be two restaurants tenanting the space and bringing even more value to downtown Ballito.

“The potential of the location has convinced the Ocean Basket group that this should be their new flagship restaurant and together with their architects they have embarked on designing a new look. The restaurant will offer all their regular dishes as well as an open air braai for fish and crayfish and an open air Sushi Bar.

It is believed that the combination of fresh fish, oysters, fish braais, cocktails and the amazing view of the Indian Ocean will result in another addition to Ballito’s growing list of attractions.

“We are putting pen to paper shortly and hope to have the building launched during the second part of 2017,” Mandzavinos said.

Contractor Luca Ciocca told The Courier that crews were currently buffing up the foundations.

“This is a building with a lot of history and we are going to make it so that Ballito can again be proud of it.”

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