Arts on Main will open in mid-May, with galleries, studios, a restaurant and bar, as well as an events space. Next door is Jewel City, making this a fascinating few blocks.

The DF Corlett building, soon to open as Arts on Main

INTERNATIONALLY renowned Joburg artist William Kentridge is about to move into a second studio ... this time in Berea Street in the CBD, on the eastern edge of Jewel City.

Kentridge will take one of the five warehouses that are being converted into studios and galleries in a development referred to as Arts on Main.

"At this stage he doesn't know exactly what he will be using the space for," says Linda Leibowitz, his spokesperson. But she indicates that he needs more space to run workshops or perhaps even for rehearsals for the new opera he is working on, The Nose, to be performed in New York in 2010.

"He will be working between the two studios - he needs extra space," she adds. His studio will be some 500m^². All the spaces are ideal for studios, with their lofty roofs and airy, double-volume interiors.

Other galleries also need extra space - the Goodman Gallery, the David Krut Gallery, Bailey's African History Archives, and the Seippel Gallery will be getting second galleries in Arts on Main. The Goethe-Institut, the Nirox Foundation, a literature project called Right on the Rim, an architect's firm and an advertising company will also be taking up space in the complex.

Bronwyn Law-Viljoen, the managing editor of David Krut Publishing, will be moving to Arts on Main with the gallery's print-making operation, and she is looking forward to the move, planned for the end of May. "I like the city. I always wanted to be based in the city.

"This is a very exciting development and quite a bold move. I am interested to see how things evolve down there on this side of town. We feel very confident about the move."

A restaurant, to be called Canteen, will be moving in by mid-May, facing a courtyard filled with olive and lemon trees. The roof of the restaurant will house a bar and an outdoor cinema.

Opening in mid-May
The developer is Jonathan Liebmann, who plans to open Arts on Main in mid-May with a concert.

Double-volume spaces will soon accommodate galleries

One of the warehouses will be kept as an events space and will retain the rustic feel of the building, with its tall A-framed corrugated iron roof and brick walls. Liebmann plans to create an internet café in an old car that came with the building, which is now on the roof of the restaurant.

He has also bought a piece of land across the road for parking, with further parking available in Fox and Berea streets. He says that he has a 50/50 mix of owners and tenants in the complex.

The original building on Berea Street belonged to DF Corlett, a building contractor and former mayor of Joburg who gave his name to Corlett Drive in Illovo. The buildings have been vacant for some time, begging for development in the untidy mish-mash of factory and motor repair buildings on this edge of the CBD.

Jewel City revamp
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has spent some R17,8-million in revamping the adjacent Jewel City precinct - replacing or upgrading stormwater outlets and drainage and street lighting.

Freeway columns have been cleaned and painted with anti-graffiti paint, pedestrian ramps have been constructed and, to give the precinct a distinct feel, geometric mosaic shapes were created on the pavements to enhance the new diamond-shaped slabs.

The view from the new restaurant, Canteen, overlooking an olive and lemon grove

The precinct consists of four city blocks. Jewel City contains offices and workshops of around 280 diamond dealers and manufacturers, receiving and processing diamonds from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana. It attracts some 400 visitors a day, mostly buying cut and polished but unmounted diamonds. Around R7-billion changes hands every year at Jewel City.

In late 2008, the JDA unveiled an artwork by Shepherd Ndudzo in the precinct, a dramatic stone and wood sculpture in the shape of an elongated diamond, positioned on a traffic island at the intersection of Commissioner and Berea streets.

ApexHi, the major property owner in the area, has contributed R2-million to the upgrade.

The final element is the placing of 15 CCTV cameras, says Claudia Mahlaule, a project manager with the JDA, at a cost of R2,5-million, with a contribution of R2-million from ApexHi. The cameras will be in place by the end of June. The JDA is also revamping the pavements around the Arts on Main block.

Meanwhile, Liebmann says he is looking around in the area for further potential developments. "I'm on the prowl," he smiles.

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