Jozi's inner-city renewal on track, Broll finds : Property News .

Jozi's inner-city renewal on track, Broll finds

Johannesburg's CBD, Braamfontein and Newtown nodes are showing significant evidence of inner-city renewal, with business sentiment and perceptions of the areas improving over the final couple of years.

This is to according to the search conducted by Broll, one of Africa's leading commercial property services group into the CBD and its immediate surroundings.

Keke Khojane area specialist and commercial broker from Broll, says that "huge transformation" is underway in the Johannesburg CBD, Braamfontein and Newtown, fuelled by a list of new and re-developments, as good as the generally good accessibility to highways, rail and bus transport. The metropolis can now be compared to many international cities, due primarily to the employment of the City of Johannesburg.

For instance, the Urban Development Zone (UDZ) for the City of Johannesburg, which covers an 18km area east-west from Fordsburg to Jeppestown and north-south from Bellevue to the M2, has contributed R8 billion to Johannesburg's CBD."

The UDZ tax incentive is voice of a national strategy to encourage inner-city renewal across South Africa. It offers tax allowances covering 100% of the entire price of property refurbishments over a point of 5 years, while new property developments can take the allowance over 17 years.

A list of projects are currently either nearing completion or underway, and will proceed to add to the translation of the area. This includes a joint Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and Central Johannesburg Partnership (a private, non-profit company) project to build City Improvement Districts, which have taken off especially in Western Johannesburg, in the Fox and Rissik Street areas.

"CIDs are designed to improve services in particular areas. They are geographically-defined areas where property owners agree to pay additional levies for enhanced services, which usually include additional safety, cleaning and general care of the area," Khojane explains. "In Western Johannesburg, which houses more corporate offices, landlords pay their CID levies more readily, and so the advance in this country has been most pronounced."

Various projects, including the exploitation of Ellis Park, Joubert Park, Gandhi Square and the Braamfontein Corporate Precinct, the upgrading of Main Street, the Johannesburg Art City Project and inquiry into the possible formation of a manner and apparel manufacturing node have contributed to this transformation.

"The JDA has played a important part in these projects, aided by the Johannesburg Land Company, Khojane says. Not that the other areas are standing still. "On the easterly slope of the CBD, the expansion of Absa's head office by 50 000sqm has had the side-effect of upgrading the area.

Similarly, the gradual re-development of Newton on the westerly slope of the CBD has attracted an inflow of aspiring artists, musicians and actors. This has created what has become known as the cultural hub of Gauteng, and is supported by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Council."

Gauteng province is besides involved in this area, in the desire of attracting more creative industries and has upgraded the Nelson Mandela off-ramp and the Mary Fitzgerald Square to support this initiative. The latter figure is funded by the JDA to the melody of R10 million and leave be accomplished by end July 2011. A further 35 000sqm of retail space, called the Potato Sheds, as well as the 7 800sqm Majesticoffice complex, of which The Purple Hotel will be the terminal phase, are being developed in Newtown.

Braamfontein's redevelopment has centered around Wits University's students, with 20 buildings being converted into student accommodation over the late years. However, Joy Coplan area specialist and commercial broker at Broll says, "Braamfontein stands a serious fortune of increased commercial development when the Gautrain station has been completed. Demand for space remains average, as do sales, but supply is on the growth and is not probably to change. Rentals vary from R65/sqm in Newtown to R82/sqm in Braamfontein. Most new leases are with government, which reprimarys the main driver of additional take-up of space."

Broll Press Release

Posted at 07:22AM Jun 21, 2011by Editor in Cities and Towns |Comments[0]