March 3, 2004
By Philippa Garson
THERE'S a new breed of property developer out there - young, feisty, and upwardly mobile. People like Jim Prevost, and Jomo Ntombela are buying up properties in and around the city that no one else is interested in. Block by block, they are beautifying the city, turning ugly, forsaken buildings into places people are queuing to live in.
Prevost and Ntombela have a lot in common. Both are in their 30s. They enjoy running in a direction most others are too scared to venture near. They get immense satisfaction from transforming ugly, slovenly buildings into beautiful ones. They are both adamant they will never rent out an apartment they could not live in themselves. And both are bidding for some of the 28 inner city buildings up for grabs on the Johannesburg Property Company's Better Buildings Programme.
Prevost, who owns Omni Properties, moved from the US after accompanying the mayor of Atlanta on a trip to South Africa in 1995. He fell in love with Joburg, which in his view "has everything the US has". "It was easy to make the transition because there's nothing missing here," he says, determined to stay "for the long haul". Although he was in real estate in the US, Prevost started out in the entertainment industry here, feeling somewhat daunted by Joburg's complex demographic landscape.
But soon the property bug bit him and he began buying, starting in Norwood and Orange Grove. His modus operandi is to fix up a property in an area in decline and lure people back again. "Once they're on the other side of the wall, they're not concerned about the area anymore. I'm offering accommodation with top finishes, expensive tiles, nice paint and new bathrooms." He was inspired by his first house sale - a renovated 1929 Orange Grove home he sold to an 80-year-old man and his wife, who sold up in Northcliff to move back to the place he was born. Now Prevost is convinced that the renovations he has made to several properties in Orange Grove have contributed to the increase in property prices in the area.
Prevost gets a kick out of anticipating the trend. "In every major city I've lived in the upwardly mobile have moved north while the lower-income have moved into the south. But there's always a return to the central city - that's where the amenities are. Here I can experience four or five different climates a few minutes away," he says, speaking from his Orange Grove home. "If I live in Fourways I have to do everything there." Omni Properties owns buildings in Yeoville and is pitching for two of the 28 on the Better Buildings Programme. One of these, Prevost plans to turn into middle-income loft apartments, selling for upwards of R150 000. "My goal is to bring the middleclass back to the inner city," he says. The loft apartments will come with a gym and recreation room, as well as secure, underground parking.
Ntombela, director of Mageba Investment Properties, has property in his blood. His grandfather Elias was a teacher-turned-landlord in KwaZulu-Natal, who lost much of his property to the apartheid government. Now Ntombela is reclaiming his legacy. His company has around 15 buildings in and around the city, including a shopping centre in Alexandra, and is bidding for three of the 28. "I like to go for buildings that others wouldn't go near - those that are burnt-out, in a horrible location or generally unattractive. Patching up a building and making it look beautiful is a wonderful feeling - I can't describe it," he says.
Ntombela's company is 100 percent black-owned. It is crucial, he believes, for black companies to enter the property market and make a success of it. "I want to develop a culture of ownership," he says. Mageba Investment Properties runs workshops educating people on the ins and outs of home-ownership. Many who bought under sectional title in places like Hillbrow have become disillusioned, inheriting huge arrears problems from previous landlords.
"The Masakane campaign focused on getting people to pay rates and taxes. It didn't look at the issues of ownership and tenancy. Remember that the long-term sustainability of inner city housing doesn't rest with creating a few tycoons who own hundreds of buildings, but instead with individuals who own their own properties," says Ntombela, formerly MD of Post Bank.
Why is he investing in the inner city? "There are fewer barriers to entry there. I'm the kind of person who runs in the direction others are running away from," he says. He has just bought Sunley Court, a burnt-out shell of a building off Smit Street in downtown Johannesburg. "It's horrendous but I like that kind of stuff," he chuckles. Ntombela plans to turn it into a residential block with 31 units and high security.
"It's all about management, access control and knowing what's happening in your building at all times. Without good management you may as well forget it," says Ntombela, who believes there is too much of an ad hoc approach to the inner city's refurbishment and not enough planning. Having too many residential buildings in town may backfire on the council's plan to draw tourists to places like Newtown. "If they're not careful we could end up like Lagos," he says. Ntombela also criticises some of the banks for "not coming to the party" when it comes to financing property investment in the inner city.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
