June 25, 2007
By Neil Fraser
SO, The Carlton is going to be up for sale – again. I can't tell you how many calls I field regarding the future of the hotel section of the Carlton Centre. Its demise was so closely linked to that of the inner city and, with the change of the inner city's fortunes, many of us are impatient to see the fence surrounding her being removed and appropriate redevelopment taking place.
Over the past few years there have been two or three groups actively looking for a deal with Transnet on the hotel redevelopment, but all were frustrated by a total lack of response from the parastatal. However, Transnet chief executive Maria Ramos has been on record for a considerable amount of time as saying that investments not central to Transnet's core business will be disposed of; and she appears to be doing this systematically.
The first major divestment was Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, which was sold to London and Regional, a company of British and Dubai investors. From what I hear, it is to make considerable further investment in the waterfront, with some new thinking that will turn the area into a building site for a number of years.
And the company clearly is interested in investing in the Carlton, evidently having already approached Transnet. The question is, do we want it to end up as owners?
Black ownership
Rather, it would be great to see the sale of the Carlton Centre leading to some real local black ownership. My concern relative to the major changes in ownership that have occurred in the city centre property market over the last five or six years in particular, is that while smaller new city centre investors have taken over from the institutional investors, which in my mind is a definite plus, they are still predominantly white.
The urban renewal of the inner city will never be completely successful until there is a major swing in racial ownership and the Carlton would be a great catalyst in this regard.
As announced this past week, bids for the sale of the Transnet housing loan book were assessed on weightings of 50 percent for price, 30 percent for profile and 20 percent for black economic empowerment. It would be good to see those weightings reversed, but that is more than unlikely given Transnet's approach of seeking the highest price.
So how can this investment be turned into broad black empowerment? Here's an opportunity for some clever structuring.
I understand that the tower block has only 5 000m² unlet out of a total of 72 000m², but that the 52 000m² retail section is fully let, although not all of the lettings are retail based.
The hotel
South African Revenue Services rents about 3 000m² where OK Bazaars used to trade. The 620-bed hotel, however, has been empty since the mid-1990s.
The hotel has always been synonymous with the fortunes of the city. Following numerous delays from the time the hotel was conceived by Barney Barnato in the mid-1890s, the original Carlton Hotel was to have opened its doors on 20 February 1906.
Its opening was the subject of the very first issue of the Sunday Times, which proclaimed: "It isn't merely a hotel - it's a miniature city, insofar as it contains within its four walls the whole of those comforts to which the luxury loving modern aspires. It occupies the greater portion of an immense block, has frontages on four important streets and towers so high that one imagines that it would not be impossible to step off its roof on to a passing cloud [The original building was six storeys high and increased to nine in 1936 – I wonder how the writer would have viewed the 50-storey Carlton tower] …
"There will be nothing to strike a discordant note, no jarring features, no administrative shortcomings or decorative faults, when the crowd of well-dressed men and women commence to throng the hallways of Johannesburg's great hotel.
"The plan upon which the hotel is constructed is perfect, its appointments superb. Taste is the keynote of the decorative scheme, as comfort is the motive of the building's design. From the lowest basement to the topmost story there is visible no single garish feature, no architectural effect with which the most hyper-critical visitor could possibly find fault."
The hotel, which was located on the site of African Life Centre, not where the current hotel is located, closed its doors in December 1963, 57 years after its opening. The Carlton was a hotel with an international reputation accommodating royalty, heads of state, millionaires, well-known celebrities and the best-known names of the entertainment world of the time.
The Carlton Centre
It was therefore fitting that when SA Breweries and Anglo American conceived their massive new development shortly after the old hotel closed, that it would include not only a new Carlton Hotel, but that the project itself would be known as The Carlton Centre.
Completed in 1973, the new hotel took over the mantle of "international hotel" and was the leading hotel in the country for two decades. When it closed in the mid-1990s a palisade fence was erected around it that somehow typified the decline of the inner city.
It's time to see it removed and the building put back into the economic life of the city. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.
Invitation
You are invited to take a close look at urban management and other related urban issues in some major American cities, and to attend the International Downtown Association (IDA) annual conference and world congress in New York City in September.
Over the past 15 years I have taken a number of groups overseas to examine various aspects of urban regeneration and urban management, and I plan to do this again shortly. So why don't you join me in September on a visit to three American cities - Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City - all of which have highly successful urban management initiatives through business improvement districts (city improvement districts), and attend the 53rd IDA gathering on downtown and town centre management, to be held in New York City in September?
There have been three world congresses on downtown and town centre management before - Coventry, in England, New York and London have all played at host city. The fourth world congress in New York in September is jointly sponsored by Britain's Association of Town Centre Management and the IDA.
About 1 200 to 1 500 delegates are anticipated. This will be a truly international event. The conference programme will consist of plenary sessions and workshops, with various study tours. In addition, a series of networking events is being planned.
It will provide an opportunity to meet stakeholders and urban practitioners from around the world and explore with them the issues that cities face. The tour will start in Washington DC on Sunday, 9 September; go on to Philadelphia on 12 September; and then to New York City, arriving in time for participants to undertake some of the IDA's pre-conference workshops and tours.
After the conference we'll spend some time examining some of the CIDs in New York, and we will visit a number of areas that have been dramatically regenerated.
The conference takes place from Saturday, 15 September to Tuesday, 18, September. We will leave on 19 September.
If you are interested in attending, please let me know and I'll send you further details.
Ciao, Neil
Walking and bus tours
The Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust holds frequent walking and bus tours around Johannesburg. The costs below are for members and non-members, respectively. Bookings can be made at Computicket on 011 340 8000 or online on the Computicket website. For any queries, phone 011 482 3349 in the mornings only.
Saturday, 30 June: Westcliff's West End
On this walking tour, explore the hilly parts of Westcliff - views, vistas, anecdotes and glimpses of noteworthy architecture. Meet at 2pm at the Ridge School, 26 Woolston Road, Westcliff. The tour lasts about three hours and costs R50 and R70.
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