Though most CBD regeneration and office-to-flat conversion projects have, to date, been on the northern and south western side of downtown Johannesburg, the urban landscape is also changing in some south eastern parts of the city.
Originally the focus was in areas such as Braamfontein, Newtown, the financial district around First National Bank’s headquarters and Gandhi Square. The move into the southeast, traditionally an industrial node, is being led by Jonathan Liebmann’s Propertuity. The developer is turning Fox Street — bordered by Main, Berea and Kruger — into a vibrant hub to live, work and play for artists, designers and other creative professions.
Known as the Maboneng Precinct, the development was launched about two years ago with the opening of Arts on Main. What was originally a complex of five mothballed warehouses is now home to 28 sectional title studios and offices. The latter have been sold or leased to artists, publishers, gallery owners, fashion designers and ad agencies.
Main Street Life, a five-storey apartment block a few metres down the road from Arts on Main, opened in mid-2010. The building consists of 194 residential units, two restaurants, an independent cinema, a theatre, an exhibition space and a rooftop bar. A boutique art hotel, 12 Decades, is housed on the top floor .
The residential units range from 33m² studios to 130m² penthouses and are priced from R290000 to R1,25m. They sold so well that Liebmann is bringing another apartment building to the market next month. Known as Revolution House, it will offer slightly larger apartments than that of Main Street Life. Its units are sized from 55m² to 150m² and priced from R500000 to R1,3m. Nineteen of the 27 units have already been sold, in advance of Revolution House’s launch next month.
Liebmann says a significant number of the buyers are first-time home owners aged between 25 and 35 who typically earn R10000- R30000/month. About 80% of buyers at the precinct are owner- occupiers, which Liebmann says has encouraged the creation of a “community of like-minded people”. They include artists and designers who have studios in the precinct, as well as young professionals who work at the banks and courts downtown.
Liebmann is also redeveloping three other buildings in the area for commercial and retail use as well as an apartment block offering student accommodation. This brings his company’s investment in the precinct to more than R100m .
Though inner-city living is gaining momentum in some pockets of the CBD, Liebmann believes there’s no point in developing an apartment block if you don’t offer residents easy access to additional infrastructure such as restaurants, bars, shops and cinemas. “Inner- city rejuvenation projects will be sustainable only if they offer a truly mixed-use lifestyle, so people don’t have to leave town after working hours,’’ he says .
Other property players report a similar uptick in demand for inner-city living. Richard Rubin, CEO of Aengus Property Holdings, who has developed about 1700 loft-style apartments in Jo’burg’s inner city over the past six years, says he has seen a definite surge in buyer interest in the recent six months, particularly from current tenants who are looking to buy their first homes. Aengus’s apartments sell for R220000-R550000.
Rubin believes a key driver of increased demand is that the inner city offers a better value proposition than Johannesburg’s established neighbourhoods. Sectional title stock in the northern suburbs is priced roughly from R12000/m² to R30000/m² , compared with the inner city’s average R5000/m² - R10000/m² .
No doubt the opening of the Gautrain’s Park Station, linking the CBD to Rosebank, Sandton, the OR Tambo airport and Pretoria, is also making inner-city living an option for many who would have previously been resigned to a home in the “burbs”.
