City blight ... the once-proud Europa Hotel

RELATED LINKS: Europa gears up for its third incarnation The stench of urine fills the air as you enter the grimy foyer of the Europa Hotel in Hillbrow. But the Europa Hotel is gearing up for its third incarnation - a shelter and housing facility for those people left homeless in the process of cleaning up the inner city's slums. Read more Better Buildings - new push for inner city revival The City's Better Buildings Programme - read fixing up its slums - is fast moving into gear. Driven by the Johannesburg Property Company, new strategies are being adopted to bypass the many hurdles that have stymied previous attempts to reverse inner city decline. Read more Buy a bad building and fix it The City's housing department will call for proposals in September from individuals, tenants and private developers interested in investing in buildings identified as "derelict". The invitations are part of the Better Buildings Programme, aimed at regenerating the inner city by attracting private sector investment in refurbishing buildings. Read more A tale of seven buildings The Seven Buildings look like many other blocks of flats in the inner city - unremarkable. Dull and moribund, their crumbling façades and broken windows blend easily into the city's dark underbelly. Read more Joburg moves in on derelict buildings More than a hundred buildings around the city are derelict, posing a health and safety risk to their occupants. The City of Johannesburg is taking measures to renovate dilapidated buildings and to demolish those that are structurally unsound. Read more

Broken fittings and pipes in abandoned rooms in the Europa hotel

Europa Hotel is being reborn ONCE a seedy sex-for-sale haven, the vacant, vandalised Europa Hotel in Hillbrow is finally getting a new lease on life. March 8, 2005 By Lucky Sindane THE OLD Europa Hotel in Hillbrow is to be refurbished, and an estimated R5,8-million has been set aside to turn the building into residential units and an emergency shelter. The funding comes from the Johannesburg Property Company's Better Buildings Programme, the City of Johannesburg's housing department and the Gauteng department of housing. The Better Buildings Programme is Johannesburg's flagship programme to clean up the inner city's slums. The building was shut down in 2003 and since then there has been no interest from anyone in investing money into upgrading the building, says George Chauke, Propcom's project manager for the Europa Hotel. Built on the corner of Claim and Smit Streets in Hillbrow, before it was closed the Europa Hotel was a strip joint, a drug den and a haven for prostitutes, particularly under-age girls. "The renovation started in January 2005 and will be completed at the end of July 2005," says Chauke. The former hotel will be turned into an emergency shelter and a temporary relocation home with communal facilities. Four floors will be for communal living, with not more than four people staying in one sleeping unit. Residents will share facilities such as bathrooms, kitchens, lounges and dining areas. Two floors will be set aside for residents staying a longer period, with not more than four people staying in one permanent unit. Each unit will have its own bathroom and kitchen facilities. "People will start moving into the building in August and will not stay there for longer than two years," Chauke says. Madulammoho, or communal living, the housing association, was appointed to manage the transitional housing shelter on behalf of the City as owners of the building for 20 years. In terms of the lease, Madulammoho will provide total management and rental accommodation for basement parking and storage, the ground floor, floors including the Old Razzmatazz night club, emergency housing, administration, retail, sporting and training facilities, four floors for communal living and two floors for permanent living. It will also take care of operational costs and income. "All financial processes and the write-off all outstanding rates and taxes and the transfer of the property have been done," says Chauke. For more information about the Better Buildings Programme, contact the Johannesburg Property Company on 011 339 2700. 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 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za