Pam Golding Commercial's Leif Eriksen has concluded a transaction for the sale of the landmark Sanclare building in Protea Road, Claremont, Cape Town for R85 million. Formerly owned by Sanlam, the 20 582sqm multi-storey property was purchased by a consortium comprising a joint venture between JCI Properties, Cape Town investors and developers Raymond Hofmann, Mike Rubin and Charles Arton, and Johannesburg based investors and developers Vaughan Bray, Grant Fischer and Pravin Rama.

CE of Pam Golding Commercial, Peter Golding, says this prime property in Claremont represents an excellent investment. This hub of Cape Town's Southern Suburbs is experiencing burgeoning growth and redevelopment.  While residential property has always been in high demand, the recently announced upgrading and transformation of the area's CBD area bodes well for commercial investments, creating excellent investment opportunities and potential for the future," he says.

Adds Eriksen, who is leasing and sales director for Pam Golding Commercial:
"Claremont is currently very much in the spotlight. The conversion of a number of office buildings into apartments, together with the construction of new apartment buildings is estimated to amount to a total investment of over R1 billion over the next 18 months.  Included in the infrastructural upgrade is the construction of roads to alleviate traffic congestion, and the conversion of the Main Road area into a predominantly pedestrian link."

The conveniently situated Sanclare building occupies an entire block, bounded by Protea, Dreyer and Corwen Roads, and is a stone's throw from upmarket Cavendish Square shopping centre.  The ground floor comprises 956sqm of rental space with Market Toyota the main tenant.  The six upper floors provide 19 250sqm of A grade offices, plus a small storage facility.
A total of 354 secure, undercover parking bays are also provided on site.

While the investors in the Sanclare building had originally intended converting the upper floors into apartments, utilising the huge patio areas, spokesman Charles Arton says the conversion of large areas of vacant office space in the node has drastically reduced the amount of quality space in Claremont.

"We have a number of excellent tenants such as Heritage Collection, Cape Media, Nedbank and Direct Axis - a large call centre, and our rental rates are reasonable, so the property is now looking even better as an investment, and as a result we are reviewing our options for the building," says Arton.

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Issued by Gaye de Villiers
Tel: 021 6837788 or 083 325 1939
On behalf of Pam Golding Commercial