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The private sector is stepping up to the plate, investing heavily in downtown Joburg. Regenerating the area is a mayoral priority.
BUSINESSES have pumped close to R4-billion into the Johannesburg central business district over the last three years, resulting in massive improvements to the economy and general outlook of the area.
New head quarters for Zurich Insurance under construction
A study conducted by the general manager of the Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP), Hans Jooste, shows that the amount of money invested by private businesses in city improvement districts (CIDs), safety initiatives and joint ventures in the inner city totals R84-million.
One of the most successful interventions initiated by the CJP has been the establishment of CIDs. Jooste explains a CID as a defined geographic area within which property owners agree to pay for certain services to enhance the physical and social environment of that area.
These services are supplementary to those provided by the local authority and usually include safety and security patrol officers, pavement cleaning, litter collection, maintenance of public spaces and the removal of illegal posters.
There are six legislated CIDs in the inner city - the Braamfontein Improvement District, the Retail Improvement District, the Central Improvement District, the Benrose Improvement District, the South Western Improvement District and the Legae la Rona Improvement District.
Joint ventures
Joint ventures between the City and the private sector totalled R10-million and included the High Court precinct, Jewel City, Hoek Street Linear Market and the Retail Improvement District Strategic Upgrade project.
Private businesses, including joint ventures between the City and the private sector, have invested R27,4-million in public space. Adding to this, there are plans to further upgrade public space in the inner city to the tune of R120-million.
The CJP, a private non-profit company established in 1992 focusing on the revitalisation of the inner city, looks after the interests of private businesses in the inner city, who together call themselves the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition (JICBC).
The CJP and the JICBC work closely with the council to develop the inner city. The JICBC is a signed member of the Inner City Regeneration Charter, one of Johannesburg's mayoral priorities.
"During the past 10 years, the JICBC has been a strong lobby group working on behalf of inner city property owners, developers and corporate bodies, regularly interfacing with communities, utilities and agencies of the City of Johannesburg in order to share information and ideas," says Jooste.
Regeneration Charter
In 2007, Masondo launched the Inner City Regeneration Charter, a document that guides inner city regeneration and all projects in the area. It defines six broad categories to be tackled in the inner city - urban management, safety and security; economic development; community development; transport; residential development; and public spaces, arts, culture and heritage.
Investment approaching R4-billion has been pumped into the Johannesburg central business district over the last three years
(Photo: Chris Kirchhoff)
Joburg set aside R400-million for the upgrading of physical infrastructure and the public environment in the 2007/08 financial year. In total, about R2-billion will be spent on inner city regeneration programmes over five years from 2007.
Jooste's research into inner city investment found that the private sector had played a key role in revitalisation of the area over the past three years. He identifies certain key private investments that stand out.
The first is the development of the Absa Towers in the southeast. Some R1-billion is being poured into the Absa precinct, with work including improvements to roads and pavements.
Not to be outdone, Standard Bank has also done extensive renovations and additions to its block to the tune of R73-million. There is a new parkade in the southwest of the inner city and the bank has bought and developed the Ussher site, located just west of the Standard Bank block.
Yet another bank that is investing heavily in the inner city is First National Bank (FNB). Its precinct, in the west, is being developed; a parkade is being added and properties to the north it has bought are being upgraded. The estimated cost is R100-million.
The new head office of Zurich Insurance across from the magistrates' court in Miriam Makeba Street is complete. Called Main Place, the R500-million development is just one of the newly built structures in the inner city; it spans more than two city blocks.
Old Mutual, the insurance giant, has a huge property portfolio in the inner city. Between 2006 and 2010, it will have invested an estimated R2,2-billion through property development.
Residential blocks
Some residential property developers have also discovered a niche for upper class accommodation in the inner city.
One of the major residential and retail developers in the inner city is City Properties. The company provides a large portion of the upmarket affordable residential units in the area. To date, it has spent about R450-million and its planned capital outlay to 2011 will be R800-million.
City Properties has also spent a large amount of money upgrading public spaces - about R2-million to improve open spaces around its properties.
The Affordable Housing Company (Afhco) also provides upmarket affordable residential units. To date, it has spent R300-million and by 2011, plans to have increased its investment in the inner city to R750-million.
Afhco is also involved in several social projects in the inner city, including funding and supporting a local private school, Citykidz.
On the retail and entertainment side, numerous well-known outlets and restaurants have returned, having fled the inner city some years ago. New coffee houses and upmarket chain stores are opening, heralding the rebirth of the inner city.
On the southwestern edge of the inner city are two new properties owned
by CircleVest/Atterbury Property Developers - Mapungubwe Hotel and
Isibaya House on Marshall Street.
Officially opened in 2007, the up-market four-star Mapungubwe Hotel
and Apartments cost R55-million. It is a sectional title scheme, with
91 hotel apartments and 37 residential apartments.
Isibaya House, developed at a cost of R40-million, is on the corner
of Marshall and Simmonds streets. The hotel boasts 103 trendy and
stylish apartments with retail facilities on the ground floor.
To complement these, the areas around the Mapungubwe Hotel and
Isibaya House have been spruced up at a cost of R80 000 and R100 000,
respectively.
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