Presenter: Lindsay Williams Guest(s): Nicholas Stopforth

Multi-use urban developments with apartments, shops, restaurants, offices and lifestyle facilities are a feature of international cities. Melrose Arch, the first modern multi-use development in South Africa, announces the next phase in the development of its residential component. With Melrose Arch development manager Nicholas Stopforth

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: In a joint venture with Warner Projects the Melrose Arch Development company has announced the second phase of the residential component. A few people were a bit sceptical about Melrose Arch and said it would never work - it must be working because this is the next phase! Can you tell us about it?

NICHOLAS STOPFORTH: Indeed. I think over the past couple of years Melrose Arch has gone from what could have been problematic into a massive success with tremendous energy - both current and future. The phase one residential scheme launched some time ago is largely sold out, and with the demand we’re seeing we’ve decided to launch the second phase. We did that last week very successfully, and we have a substantial take-up at this point in time.

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: What sort of take-up in percentage terms, and what sort of people would you say?

NICHOLAS STOPFORTH: Firstly the take-up - we’ve had 42 reservations, of which most have been converted to sales of the 62 units on offer. They are people who are looking to live, work and play in an environment in which they could really walk to work, walk to restaurants in the evening, walk to the gym - and in the coming schemes walk to the shopping centre, to the retail precinct that we are busy conceptualising.

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Let’s talk about that retail precinct - I know one of the reasons that Melrose Arch perhaps didn’t take off as quickly as it might have is because it couldn’t attract the big name retailers because there’s simply no enough feet going through the development. Is that still true?

NICHOLAS STOPFORTH: We’re conceptualising an age-old concept - high street retail - where pedestrians rule, where pedestrians can walk the high street, have exposure to shop facades with a destination square on one side, restaurants and some commercial space above. Once again it’s the mixed-use discipline coming through all of that.

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Are developers watching what’s happening at Melrose Arch in order to make decisions on perhaps more mixed-use developments? There’s one planned for the Fourways area near Monte Casino - do you think Melrose Arch is a test case?

NICHOLAS STOPFORTH: Very much so - I think it’s proved to be a tremendous success. We’ve gone through the process, we have our rights entrenched - really it’s ripe for the taking. We are about to launch a new commercial scheme on one of the portions of land, and that’s very exciting. The demand is there, the take-up is there - the proof is in the pudding in terms of people signing purchase agreements to take up those land parcels.

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Very quickly - is it true that in mixed-use developments apartments attract a premium because of their proximity to other services?

NICHOLAS STOPFORTH: I think it’s true - just the convenience of living and working in a safe, secure, energetic environment would attract a premium - and Melrose Arch is exactly that. It has that energy, and it has that safety feature - it certainly is going to be, and is a wonderful place to be and live.