Paarden Eiland

Construction of the Marine Drive was started by the Cape Town Municipality, in 1916. This was very different to the Marine Drive of today……….flooding by the seas, sand, seaweed and flotsam-(the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea), were not unusual hazards on the road. Paarden Eiland was only actively promoted and proclaimed an industrial area in 1935. 
Paarden Eiland means ‘island of horses’, named so because this industrial area is home to hundreds of large showrooms and spaces all manufacturing different things, most of them being motor vehicles!. This industrial suburb boasted one of the country’s first motor assembly plants – 'Atkinson’s Motors' –. Motors and other tenants in Paarden Eiland road today, namely car manufacturers: 'Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, De Soto Cars'. Later other commercial factories were built here. The only problem was that their was water flooding in this area, which was a problem, when the nearby sea was ‘high’. 

Paarden Eiland is close to the seaside and boasts a lovely 'Flea Market', every Sunday where all sorts of 'goodies' and food, can be bought.

The glistening Liesbeek River is a river in Cape Town named after a small river in Holland. The first "free burghers" of the Dutch East India Company were granted land to farm along the river in 1657, shortly after the first Dutch settlers arrived in the Cape. The river starts in the mountain gorges above Kirstenbosch and runs through parts of Cape Town's Southern Suburbs.
It eventually joins the Black River to empty into Table Bay at Paarden Island. The Liesbeek River is home to an amphibian known as a Platanna. The Platanna is used for important medical research purposes at Paarden Eiland as well as other venues.
Paarden Eiland is ideally situated in amongst the hustle and bustle of the city. It is close to all services and amenities and ideal for motor, home improvements and leisure industries. For business purposes, Paarden Island is definitely the place to start one. It offers fantastic amenities and situated on a busy intersection.

The establishment of the Paarden Eiland City Improvement District (PECID) was approved by the Cape Town City Council in May 2005 following an application by property owners in the area. After eight months of delays with CIPRO and SARS, the CID officially began its work in March 2006.
The history of the association of industrialists in the area goes back as far as 1947 when the Paarden Eiland Industrialists & Ratepayers Association was founded by Louis Glassman, a prominent property and business owner in the area.
In 1972 the Metro Industrial Township- (Metro Industrial Township is a suburb in City of Cape Town, Western Cape. Metro Industrial Township is situated nearby to the suburb Lagoon Beach, as well as near Rugby and Brooklyn), joined the scheme and it was renamed the Paarden Eiland & Metro Association, or PEMA as it became generally known. Working closely with the City Council, PEMA continued its work maintaining and improving the area, but, as membership was on a voluntary basis, it became increasingly evident that those who contributed by paying membership fees were carrying all those businesses who did not.
By forming a City Improvement District, where all property owners would contribute to the upkeep of the area, a group of interested property owners decided that this was in the best interests of the community. They applied to the City of Cape Town for the establishment of a City Improvement District and after 58 years of voluntary membership by the few, PEMA became PECID (Paarden Eiland City Improvement District ), a Section 21 Company owned and financially supported by all property owners in Paarden Eiland.

Paarden Island is close to the beautiful harbour of Cape Town with a large Container Depot connected via a railway line. For your information- Paarden Eiland boasts a lovely flea market every Sunday where all sorts of wares can be bought.