Neil Fraser
December 1, 2003
THIS week I want to start off highlighting precincts, both established and emerging. These are where large concentrations of people exist or are developing or where specialist attractions exist or are developing.
Concentrations of people have needs and the fulfillment of those needs is what stimulates revitalisation. Such needs are of course also opportunities and I have provided what I think are the opportunities offered below each precinct description in bold italics.
Constitution Hill: Phase one will be completed in the first quarter of next year when the Constitutional Court is opened, the rest of the precinct will be developed between then and 2007 and will comprise offices, an hotel, residential accommodation and tourist facilities. The infrastructure for the macro project, including the approximate 2 000 car parking basement, is already under construction. The precinct is expected to attract 300 000 tourists a year and will provide 500 permanent jobs and probably 200 to 300 residents on site. Will attract offices for constitution-related legal and associated firms and NGOs, tourism, hospitality and residential.
Medical Precinct: Will host a variety of STD research and associated facilities which will be built around existing health facilities. Medical research, clinics, medical and counseling organisations, accommodation.
Braamfontein: New streetscape upgrading, parks, the Civic Theatre, presence of a number of corporate head offices, Metro Centre and numerous NGOs with a CID providing urban management including public space security. Presence of private and public education facilities and proximity to Wits University will continue to create demand for student accommodation. Approximate daytime population 25 000. Will attract more service retail and outdoor activities and entertainment.
Wits University: Population of approximately 20 000. Has up to now catered for students needs, except accommodation, on campus. Still to be seen is how serious the university authorities are regarding "opening the hard edge of campus" to become more integrated with Braamfontein and the city.
Milpark: Emerging media related node with TV studios, lofts, boutique type retail and offices, a new trendy area with easy connections to the Centre City, universities, Auckland Park, clinics, etc. Will attract entertainment/media industry for residential, business and leisure activities. A new mini-Melville?
Newtown: Finally emerging after years of talk and no activity as the "creative capital of Johannesburg and South Africa" this historic area has been 'opened up' as a result of the Nelson Mandela Bridge and on/off ramps and is now attracting investment in commercial, cultural and residential projects and a growing number of eating establishments. Will attract cultural organisations, design professionals, tourism bodies, pubs and bars, residential.
Fordsburg: Strong retail and restaurant area. Existing business will be strengthened over the next year.
Chinatown: Plans are to return this to the premier 'Chinatown' in the metropolitan area. Existing business will be strengthened and the area should start to attract residential.
Faraday: The new muti-market will more and more become a tourist attraction whilst the new taxi ranks will process thousands of commuters and thus support services including retail formal and informal will follow.
Kwa Mai Mai: Another great tourist attraction.
Jewel City: Specialist manufacturing, industry facilities and retail precinct, current employment approximately 2 000 set to grow plus 500 tourists a day, need for residential accommodation for staff close to this precinct.
Ellis Park: Sports and education precinct, if we get Soccer World Cup watch this area take off! Will attract sport retail, residential, hospitality.
Fashion District: I still think that this area offers one of the most exciting potentials, it already has about 1 000 SMEs, 500 businesses and 3 700 people working in the area. Needs commercial investment and residential accommodation.
High Court Precinct: Suffered badly with many in the legal profession relocating to Sandton but a lot of them still have to be in the city on a day to day basis to attend Court. The upgrading of the environment will have a positive effect in stabilising the area - service retail.
Gandhi Square: The redevelopment of the Square has resulted in the office space filling and better quality retail being attracted to the area. In addition thousands of commuters move through the area daily. The unveiling of the Gandhi statue provides a tourist focus. Entertainment, tourism.
Provincial Government Precinct: The consolidation of provincial government into a precinct means that 3 500 employees will be using the area and this offers numerous opportunities in retail, restaurants and residential.
Upper income residential: The upper income residential projects recently announced cluster either within or near to the Provincial Government precinct thereby stimulating the demand for night-time/weekend entertainment, focused retail and eating/drinking establishments.
CIDA City Campus: The growth of this dynamic education institution projecting increasing registration to 4 800 students by end of 2 400, offers many opportunities not least of which is student accommodation.
MetroMall: Situated in the highest pedestrian count area of the inner city, the potential is huge particularly in terms of impulse shopping.
Now back to trying to fill in what has been left out previously in this Citichat end-of-year review series.
Provincial Government Precinct
Whilst I did cover this in a previous Citichat, information regarding the full extent of the buildings forming the precinct have subsequently been released (Die Beeld 18 November) and if you colour in the following buildings on a map of the city a clear pattern emerges centring around what we have historically called the Civic Spine, ie the City Library, Beyers Naude Gardens and the City Hall:
- The Bank of Lisbon Building, Sauer Street
- 78 Fox Street
- The old SARB Building corner Fox and Simmonds
- 30 Simmonds Street
- Caplin Building, Simmonds Street
- Standard Bank Towers, Fox Street
- Old Mutual Building, President Street
- FNB Building corner Simmonds and Commissioner
- Thusanong House, Commissioner and Simmonds
- ABSA Building, Commissioner and Fraser
- New Library Hotel, Commissioner and Fraser
- Customs House, Market and Fraser
- Sage Towers and Sage Centre, President Street
- Library Chambers, Simmonds Street
- Volkskas Building in Market Street
- The SA Perm corner Commissioner and Simmonds
- The Rand Water Council Building in Fraser Street
Impressive array of acquisitions!
As mentioned last week, Harrison and Loveday Streets will probably be re-located underground between President and Market streets thus creating a large traffic free public space and there will be numerous demolitions of buildings, some evidently to provide more public space - demolitions appear to include the part of the SARB Building that faces onto Commissioner Street; Clegg House; the New Library Hotel; Custom House and a number of others. Something of a tongue in cheek comment: It will be interesting to see if those buildings slated for demolition that are older than sixty years pass through the Heritage Resources Agency process especially as Provincial Government itself is responsible for administering the relevant Act in so far as buildings of Provincial and City importance are concerned! Seriously, this could stimulate an important debate on preservation vs 'progress'!
Urban Ocean
The other aspect of investment in the inner city about which more information is emerging is in regard to upper end of the market residential accommodation. As details of the acquisitions and proposed developments emerge it is clear that they will strengthen the Provincial Government Precinct area thus intensifying the opportunities. Alfonso Botha and Duan Coetzee, through their Urban Ocean development company have, I believe acquired seven to nine projects. Four of these are:
- Corner House, 77 Commissioner Street where apartments are selling from R799 000-00
- National Bank House, 80-88 Market Street where luxury penthouses start at R1.2 million, and then
- Stuttafords Building, no details as yet, and
- the Commissioner Street parkade. This last will be used as a parking facility for the residential developments.
Fifthly, there is 1 Rissik Street, a 16-storey office block on the south western edge of the City Centre where the top five floors are to be converted to 100 sq metre penthouses with prices ranging from R350 000-00 to R599 000-00. Residential tenants will be offered secure parking in the building's three basement parking floors, unless they commute by helicopter in which case there is a landing pad!!!, use of a gym and swimming pool. A high-quality street level restaurant and exclusive sports car showroom are all part of the redevelopment.
Is the city ready for this? On the one hand I have a concern that the night-time infrastructure isn't nearly there - on the other hand, three of the first four projects are close to each other and could start to develop the necessary critical mass that will drive the infrastructure. But the investment certainly opens up all kinds of other opportunities and is 'lifting the bar' as my American friends would say.
Now for something different!
Drill Hall
In Citichat 14/2002 I scratched at the surface of the history of the Drill Hall describing it as "a building that encapsulates the full range of the city's chequered history". Built in 1904 as the headquarters for the Transvaal Volunteers during the city's colonial period, it remained in military hands from Union in 1910 right through to 1992. The building featured prominently during the strikes in 1922 when it headquartered the troops used to quell the riots. It was identified with the apartheid regime due to its use in 1956 at the start of the Treason Trial which was later relocated to Pretoria 'for security reasons'. The military then continued to use the building until they vacated it in 1992. I had previously written the following in Citichat 41/2001 - "The building is owned by the State which has neglected it to the stage that it is totally overrun by squatters, a haven for gangs and a centre of criminal activity. It is a cess-pit which constitutes a major potential health hazard, a number of fires have resulted in damage and it has been condemned as structurally unsound. Yet the State does nothing!"
In 2001 a fire claimed the lives of nine residents and in 2002 a further five lives were lost in another fire that also severely damaged the building. With the debit side of the balance sheet now reflecting substantial loss of life, the authorities were forced into action. The building was transferred from national to local government, and a R10 million redevelopment project was launched to "restore and develop Drill Hall as a place of historical significance and as a public open space with opportunities for recreation…the intention is for the site to form part of the historical and cultural tourism trail of the inner city."
Earlier this year, Citichat 4/2003 described the project as follows:
"The Southern building will be demolished and the space it covers will, together with the area occupied by the main hall - destroyed in the fire - be developed into an open square. That in it self is great as we do badly need breathing spaces in the city. Through the closure of Quartz Street between Plein and De Villiers, this open space will be enlarged further. Part of the Western building will be retained whilst the Northern building is to be retained in its entirety and refurbished. This will be used to house the Rand Light Infantry and the National Reserve Forces Council"
The R10 million project has made steady progress throughout the year and is scheduled for completion shortly. Incidentally it has won accolades for architect Michael Hart who has been recognised by the Cape Institute for Architecture for his work in the restoration project. Another case of prophets not being recognised in their own country (city)?
Joubert Park
For many the Joubert Park area is perceived as the no-go area of Johannesburg. But the area hosts some of the finest community related projects in the city, part of a network of urban renewal programmes which collectively comprise the Joubert Park Project. It is fascinating to realise that the Johannesburg Art Gallery which sits in the middle of Joubert Park, is actually the glue that to a large extent holds the area together. Jillian Carman in her chapter 'Johannesburg Art Gallery and the Urban Future' ('Emerging Johannesburg - Perspectives on the Postapartheid City') astutely recognises this issue - "The Joubert Park Project is not the first initiative linking the Johannesburg Art gallery with its neighbourhood. But it differs fundamentally from the gallery's previous attempts to engage with its immediate environment; the initiative comes from outside the gallery, is a serious and sustained effort and is part of a network of inner city programmes."
"Johannesburg and its art gallery have always had a love-hate relationship. Public and city council attitudes have been characterised by praise, damnation and sheer indifference in equal measure and often simultaneously. The negative attitudes have sometimes been unfair, provoked more by unfortunate circumstances and ignorance than real wrongs."
Gillian's account of the gallery makes fascinating reading as it unpacks these attitudes and more but it is her conclusion that provides the hope for the future of the area; "The Johannesburg Art Gallery is both cultural recorder and resource. It is a unique witness to colonial imperialism of the early twentieth century, the developing cultural life of an urban community, the dynamics of community participation, and the role that art and museums can play today in a democratic South Africa. In adapting to its situation in Joubert Park and to wider concerns- or, more accurately, in the appropriation of the gallery by its environment - the Johannesburg Art Gallery reveals its potential as a major community resource."
Here are just a few of the projects and programmes that keep this stressed area vital:
CICI - THE CREATIVE INNER CITY INITIATIVE - Citichat 22/2003 described the initiative in the words of the project's Bie Venter - "an extraordinary non- formal art school." It is housed in the old Hebrew School located on the corner of Wolmarans and Claim Streets directly opposite the Great Synagogue. (incidentally, I see that the Synagogue is up for sale again at R10 million!)
The location provides an opportunity to link with other exciting arts initiatives that are centred around Joubert Park. Funded for one year only through the poverty alleviation fund of the Department of Arts Science and Culture (DACST) the good news is that, whilst it is nearing the end of its one year pilot phase, it will now be established as an NPO and developed further, partly as a community art school but also continuing to feed into urban and community development.
The school accommodates about 200 students at any one time and the programmes are conducted within three monthly cycles so as to regularly introduce new activities. Aside from the performing arts some of the more pragmatic outputs include:
- Video: short documentaries
- Creative Recycling: recycling bins
- Exposure workshops: artists' maps of Berea, Joubert Park and Hillbrow
- Embroidery: aprons, cushion covers, panels and artists books
- Beadworks: AIDS ribbons, earrings and necklaces
- Pottery: various pots and vessels
From some of the information recently provided to me: "Culture-based initiatives play an important role in urban renewal throughout the world. As part of our local urban renewal efforts it is vital that we commit to activities such as performances, exhibitions, festivals, other cultural activities and the training of artists to create public art. This upliftment of art and artists is a fundamentally important developmental and economic strategy.
Recognising that inner-city problems often stem from poverty and overpopulation CICI moves our focus from the physical to quality of life issues. An improved quality of life - spiritual, aesthetic and emotional - is another essential component in the development of a humane and healthy society.
In this the Arts play a crucial role, not only for the artists, but also for those who are enriched by their work. Through creative engagement with their environment, people develop a sense of ownership, belonging, pride ownership and responsibility towards themselves, their community and lives. The overarching goal of the CICI is therefore to engage with urban renewal and human and community development through artistic and cultural activities."
Another initiative, The Youth Empowerment Network, now has an office in the Joubert Park Neighbourhood Centre - their current programme comes to an end today and the graduation is tonight at 18h00 in the Hillbrow Christian Care Centre cnr Edith Cavell and Kaptein Streets, Hillbrow, always a joyful occasion.
Another of the Joubert Park projects spells out the following rationale: "The urban environment in greater Johannesburg starkly illustrates a number of developmental, socio-economic and environmental challenges experienced by many urban residents the world over. Despite political will and action, the quality of life of many communities has not adequately improved. People continue to long for better services, a healthy and stimulating environment and nutritious food. Some of the reasons for this are the need for communities themselves to act, a lack of resources and information, and a general hesitancy to abandon known ways of doing things for more innovative methods."
The GreenHouse Project was established to collaborate in addressing these urban challenges. It seeks to do this by establishing the 'GreenHouse People's Environmental Centre' in what is Johannesburg's largest inner city open space, Joubert Park. The Project has three main focus areas:
- Providing a working demonstration of sustainable ways to plan, build, landscape, manage energy, water and material resources and organise
- Support to organisations working to improve our urban environment, particularly community-based organisations
- The dissemination of information that will enable individuals in all sectors of our society to improve the quality of life in their community in a sustainable manner
Free tours of the GreenHouse Centre are available every third Saturday on the month from 10h00 to 16h00 whilst the resource centre is open as a free reference library from Monday to Friday from 10h00 to 16h00.
Rissik Street Post Office: This has been an unsatisfactory year for this great building.
It was designed by Sytze Wierda, the state architect for the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR) and construction started in 1896. The contractor was NCA Meischke and the contract price sixty five thousand pounds. Meischke also later built the City Hall directly opposite and to the west of the Post Office. (The building next door to our own building, 90 Market Street, is known as Meischke's Building and, rumour has it, was built from materials surreptitiously dropped off delivery wagons as they rode down Market Street to the two building sites!)
An article written some years ago stated: "Besides the Old Fort in Kotze Street, the Rissik Street Post Office is the only remaining structure of importance built in Johannesburg by the government of the South African Republic. Historically and stylistically it is interestingly counterbalanced by the City Hall Complex and together these two buildings also form one of the most important building complexes in the city."
One of the most important building complexes in the city or not, since 1995 the building has stood empty and has been systematically vandalised and allowed to decay. Now it is being mothballed, a little late, as the inside has been gutted by vagrants and even its clock and bells stolen.
In 1994 we, the CJP, put forward a proposal that the building become the office of the Premier, we arranged finance and had an enthusiastic Tokyo Sexwale backing the proposal. It didn't happen and the building today is in an awful state - I can't understand why the Provincial government hasn't acquired it as part of their new precinct.
Art Deco Buildings
The late 20s and 30s, were an age when a large number of buildings erected in Johannesburg provided the quantum leap from mining town to metropolis. Clive Chipkin (Johannesburg Style) refers to Sarah Gertrude Millin who in 1926 said of passengers who alighted at Park Station from the Union Express that they would take a brief look at Johannesburg and pronounce: "This is a city, now this feels like a city."
A list of the top twenty survivors of the Golden age of Art Deco includes
Normandie Court, Anstey's Mansions in Jeppe Street Astor Mansions, corner Jeppe and von Brandis; Castle Mansions (89 Eloff Street); Manners Mansions (Jeppe and Joubert); Stanhope Mansions (Plein Street) and Dorchester Mansions (73 Rissik Street). This latter building boasted the name of the luxurious London hotel being built at that time, the name being actively marketed as an enticement to prospective tenants as was its elaborate façade decorations. Dunvegan Chambers (Pritchard and Joubert); Arop House (von Brandis and Kerk) - the relief patterns on the spandrels of which reflect the links between Art Deco and cubism; the Federal Hotel (181 Commissioner corner Polly) and Dawson's Hotel (corner von Brandis and President).
Then there is 44 Main Street (1937-9) which broke away from the skyscraper vogue of the time - Chipkin says: "This low building, unnamed with English reticence, is the seat of finance capital in South Africa, and no signage is needed to inform you of this."
The building exhibits many aspects of Art Deco, entrance screens; bronze entrance door decoration (by the man responsible for the gates at Buckingham Palace, Walter Gilbert) and the superb shallow-relief animal sculptures the plaster models of which were done by Gilbert's son, Donald Gilbert.
Grosvenor Motors in Eloff Street, the Aegis Building, 34 Loveday Street and Broadcast House in Commissioner Street - from where the first radio-broadcasting service in South Africa was implemented. The reference point for this monolithic structure was Broadcast House in Langham Place London, the headquarters of the BBC. The sculptural spandrel panels and that above the main entrance clearly have their origins in the London building of the same name as did the dummy transmitter aerial.
Gallo Africa Limited (161 President and Troye) - "the juke-box design was thought appropriate for a major record distribution company" the SA Mutual Building (Harrison and Commissioner) and the SA Perm (Commissioner corner Simmonds) - "1930s statements of financial power", the Union Castle Building (Loveday and 93 Commissioner) - look for the "plaster panels representing Industry" and, finally, His Majesty's in Commissioner Street - a major theatre and chambers for the legal profession. The architect's inspiration was derived from the Rockefeller Centre in New York - bestowing "a powerful image of metropolis on Commissioner Street."
These are just twenty of scores of Art Deco buildings in the inner city, many, certainly not all, in a parlous state. Yet the buildings that they were modelled on, by and large, not only still exist but have become icons both in their own cities and internationally. The buildings that provided inspiration to local architects in New York and London and elsewhere have continued to provide inspiration and engender pride in millions of people, in too many instances ours have become a source of embarrassment. A great opportunity for investors!
Chancellor House
A building that in any other city of the world would have been an icon because of its history is nothing more than a partially burnt out cess pit, a disgrace and a blot on the cityscape. Talk about a 'sink hole' and here it is in all its gory. Next year must be the year when this building, once the law offices of Mandela and Tambo, is restored to provide us with an important icon of the struggle history.
Well, let's pull all this and the previous four Citichats together in terms of a scorecard:
Citichat 41: 6 052 parking bays under construction at an overall cost of approximately R300 million. Investment in Constitution Hill, Medical Precinct and Braamfontein R1.1 billion of which 47% is private sector.
Citichat 42: Milpark R50 million, Newtown R1 billion (over two years) 40% private, Fordsburg and Chinatown R2 million.
Citichat 43: Residential investment between R500 million and R1 billion and other investment R375 million, R250 million of which coming from the private sector.
Citichat 44: Property changing hands this year of between R1 and R2 billion and construction activity of at least R100 million.
Citichat 45: Apart from maybe R50 million the balance has been covered in the previous four.
All in all, investment in property, including construction costs, etc comes to a total of about R5 billion! That's not bad for a city that has been written off more times in the past two decades than I can remember, and, it's only the start!
