October 7, 2005
By Lucille Davie
ANOTHER 19 inner city buildings are set to be refurbished, creating more than 700 new residential units.
"All the buildings are former office blocks, and most will remain offices," says Scott Jones, the general manager of City Property, a property development and management company.
Four of the 19 will be converted into residential units, with retail space on the ground floor.
The developer, City Property, was based in Pretoria for the past 37 years. However, it moved to Johannesburg in April this year. Over that time it has built about 10 000 residential and office units in Pretoria.
"We have had a lot of success with vacant and derelict office space in Pretoria," Jones adds.
Plaza Place, to be available for occupation from March 2006, is being refurbished at a cost of R30-million, and will offer 300 bachelor, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Rentals will range between R1 800 to R2 800.
The building, on the corner of Rissik and Jeppe streets, was built in 1964, in the late modernist style.
The development of Plaza Place, originally called the New Plaza and owned by Old Mutual, will now become a 50-50 joint venture between Old Mutual and City Property.
Jones says the tenant market they are aiming for consists of office workers, primarily bank employees, working at the inner city headquarters of three major banks - First National Bank, Standard Bank and Absa Bank.
The other future residential buildings are Harland House on the corner of Marshall and Loveday streets, with 110 units; Leisk House, on the corner of Bree and Rissik streets, with 120 units; and Persam House, on the corner of Bree and Loveday streets, with 200 units.
City Property is also responsible for the refurbishment of the Killarney Mall, at a cost of R100-million.
Other private developers have made a considerable contribution to creating residential space within the CBD. Urban Ocean has bought 10 inner city buildings, and will create 15 loft apartments in the Corner House; 135 units in The Franklin, formerly the Ernst & Young building; 36 units in 1 Rissik Street; and 60 units in Shakespeare Place, formerly Shakespeare House.
Urban Ocean also recently acquired the CNA building, which it hopes to convert into residential units.
Developer Brian Green, who converted several office buildings into the highly successful multi-use 44 Stanley Avenue in Milpark, has bought the FNB building in Commissioner Street, and intends creating 23 units in its seven storeys, with a food emporium filling the former banking hall.
Old Mutual, which until recently owned 40 buildings in the inner city, plans to create about 1 000 residential units in the coming years. The company now owns 12 buildings in the CBD, including the beautiful but derelict Barbican.
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