INTERNATIONAL reinsurer GeneralCologne Re Africa will be moving its SA head office to Melrose Arch from Parktown at the end of October this month, becoming one of the few businesses to that will start trading there when the development opens its doors next month.in November.
GeneralCologne will occupy 1000m² in the R3bn, mixed-use development in Illovo, in northern of Johannesburg.
It is joining consulting group Andersen, the National Empowerment Fund and Lyndhurst Auto.
Melrose Arch launches comes into a highly competitive market, with northern Johannesburg nodes experiencing increasing vacancies, mainly as a result of oversupply.
Asking rentals at the development have declined from an initial R120/m² to about R75/m² in some cases. Analysts say this has dragged down rents in surrounding areas.
GeneralCologne MD Olaf Ziegler says his group is excited about moving to 'a suitably prestigious development that will enable us to be more accessible to our clients....
'It also caters for our staff, who can now feel absolutely secure when working late,' Ziegler says.
Melrose Arch has been given its own postal code, 2076. The development has also been allocated its own telephone prefix: 684.