Office tenancies in Johannesburg's prestigious Melrose Arch, of which Amdec is a co-owner and the development manager, continue at strong levels, with over 85,000sqm of commercial offices let.

Vacancies throughout the entire 90,000sqm of office space at Melrose Arch rank below 6%, comparing favourably to the SAPOA Office Vacancy Survey Q4 2009 which peg vacancies at 10.4% in the Melrose/Waverley node and 9.5% in Sandton and surrounds.

Despite bringing an expansive 30,000sqm of prime-grade commercial space to the market in Q2 2009 – one of South Africa’s most challenging times economically - virtually all this space has been taken up. Some 8,000sqm of space was signed up from 1 December 2009 alone.

“Any new requests for larger tenancies will have to be accommodated in future phases of the development,” notes Uhlmann.

“While interest in the offices at Melrose Arch never waned, the decision making process was notably more measured for many companies during the economic uncertainty of the previous year,” explains Uhlmann. “2010 seems to have brought with it clarity of direction and, as a result, and upswing in leasing activity.”

“There is also a tolerance of higher rentals with some of the pressure experienced in 2009 coming off,” says Uhlmann.

Melrose Arch is currently about 50% developed with further office, retail and residential space on the cards for future phases of this vibrant mixed-used precinct.

Already respected as one of the most prestigious business addresses in South Africa, this new office space has attracted tenancies from local and international corporate heavyweights like TWP Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Accor Services, Royal Bafokeng Holdings, Allan Gray, Bidvest, Xstrata Coal and Xstrata Alloys, Coronation Fund Managers, Mondi, ARUP and Stanlib.

Melrose Arch’s extraordinary new-urban offering - with shops, restaurants, coffee shops, banks, hotels and gyms as well as apartments and penthouses all in a safe, fully-fledged pedestrianised precinct– underpins the appeal of Melrose Arch as a modern business precinct, especially, Uhlmann points out, in the case of companies who host international clients.

Enhancing Melrose Arch’s status as a highly sought-after office location is its highly visible and easily accessible location, served by both the Atholl-Oaklands and the Corlett Drive off-ramp from the M1 highway.

It is this, together with tailor-made leasing solutions which are sensitive to the strategies and challenges companies may be facing in the current global market, which Uhlmann credits as placing Melrose Arch on the crest of this upswing in office letting.