The recent renovation of 1 Sixty Jan Smuts Avenue in Johannesburg’s cosmopolitan Rosebank business district is in line with Growthpoint Properties’ strategic aim of growing and improving its office portfolio throughout South Africa.

“Our goal is to sustain and grow a high-quality office portfolio by maintaining and improving our offering to tenants,” explains Rudolf Pienaar, the fund director of offices at Growthpoint Properties.

“1 Sixty Jan Smuts is a prime example of that commitment.”

The R36million refurbishment was carried out during tenant occupation, “this was a challenge however we achieved this through careful collaboration between property and project management, the project manager and the contractor”, says Pienaar.

Located at the highly visible and busy intersection of Jan Smuts Avenue, Tyrwhitt Avenue and 7th Street, the office property is a landmark in the node. The new Rosebank Gautrain station is just a three-minute walk away, as are the prime malls, hotels and galleries for which Rosebank is renowned.

Growthpoint’s office properties are already recognised and respected by the business community as highly functional spaces with desirable addresses, says Paul Kollenberg, Regional asset manager at Growthpoint.

In line with this, the ultimate aim of renovating 1 Sixty Jan Smuts was to refurbish a landmark property in an exceptional location, and to substantially let it to blue-chip tenants at market-related rentals.

“We have achieved not only an enhanced office environment for our tenants, but also improved the building’s appeal and lettability, while reducing operating costs,” says Kollenberg.

The newly announced Johannesburg campus for the South African School of Applied Psychology has recently taken premises at 1 Sixty Jan Smuts Avenue, adding to the tenant mix at the building.

The vibrant five-storey building now offers improved foot circulation into the building from the foyer to the office floors; enhanced security; and upgraded common areas.
 
The tenant allowance is a generous R550/sqm at a competitive rental of R115/sqm net. Tenants can take advantage of ample parking on five basement levels – 4.5 bays per 100sqm – at R550/month for a basement bay.

Thanks to the application of green principles throughout the space, the property is generating greater energy efficiencies resulting in reduced operating costs. All lighting in the common areas such as receptions, ablutions and passages were replaced with LED lights, as well as all internal feature lighting, which gives a reduction of 50w to 7w per globe. The five basement levels include Infra-red occupancy sensors and day-night timers were fitted to all external lights as well as the common areas of the lower and upper ground floors.
 
“Redevelopment and renovation of properties throughout our office portfolio is a key strategy for us and will remain a strong focus in the future,” adds Pienaar.