Estate Living November 2016 Digital Issue | Page 36

st francis links

st francis
links
surf & turf at st francis

The one thing we can be sure of in life is

“We took occupation of the clubhouse only

change. Nothing stays the same. Sometimes

ten days before opening,” he said, “with Jack

things get better, sometimes they get worse,

Nicklaus and 800 special guests in attendance!

and sometimes they just get older. But certain

We hired the staff – many of whom are still

things − like a good wine, a good marriage

here today – and developed the model for our

or a beautiful tree, mature into something

operational structures.”

sublime. Communities can too, and so can

So they’ve seen, and guided the growth and

residential estates. It looks like that’s what’s

development of the estate over its first ten

happening to St Francis Links as it celebrates

– sometimes scary, sometimes wonderful –

its tenth anniversary. They’re still working on

years.

it, but so far every year has been better than
the one before.

THE FIRST TEN YEARS
Estate Living chatted to Jeff Clause, who, with
his wife Liezl, has been involved in the estate
since before its opening in 2006.

There’ve been some ups and downs, as Jeff
describes. “In the first two years, more than
490 properties of the 540 on offer were sold.
It was boom time in South Africa, and some
properties were bought and resold before
transfer. But then the recession forced some