Another two downtown office blocks are being converted into stylish residential flats -The Steytler and 37 Quinn Street, both seven-storey buildings.

The Steytler will become 22 units, ready for occupation by June, and 37 Quinn Street will become 30 flats and seven penthouses, ready by December.

Carol and Ludi de Klerk, owners of The Steytler, felt that the busy - and at times noisy - location would be better suited to residential use as residents would not be home most of the day.

The building is on the corner of Market and Loveday streets, with its entrance in Loveday. The north-facing units overlook the grand City Hall, and beyond that the shuttered Rissik Street Post Office and Barbican building.

Three-, two- and one-bedroom flats are being created, and all except five have been sold. Prices have ranged from about R417 000 for a one-bedroom first-floor unit to R1,06-million for a three-bedroom unit on the seventh floor. Sizes range from 66,5m² to 124,9m². The penthouse level, where a two-bedroom flat already exists, is also available for development.

It is perfectly located for the black yuppies who are snapping up flats in the inner city - close to major corporates like Anglo American, JCI, Mutual & Federal and a number of banks. It is close to Beyers Naude Square and the central library. The popular Woolworths is two blocks away.

The Steytler has history on its doorstep: the historic Rand Club is a block away and the Guildhall Pub, built two years after Joburg was established in 1886, is also a block away. The Corner House, built in 1904, is just around the corner. Originally the offices of the town's early mining entrepreneurs, it is to be converted in future into luxury loft apartments.

Several blocks further afield is the revamped Main Street Mall and Newtown, which is packed with pubs, clubs, Museum Africa and the Market Theatre complex.

The building was constructed in 1964, on the site of the first Steytler building, a single-storey iron structure built in 1889, called the MM Steytler Building. It was replaced in 1896 by the Steytler & Lipinski Building.

"There has been a big demand for one-bedroom apartments," says Carol de Klerk, adding that several banks have bought units, as have out-of-towners who plan to commute to the city.

The De Klerks have brought in interior consultants - the flats will have wooden floors and a stylish finish, including granite kitchen counter tops.

The ground floor has been converted into parking, in addition to basement level parking. Even so, there is not an abundance of parking - each unit has only one space.

The retail ground level will remain, as will the first level of offices.

Ludi de Klerk says he has noticed a greater "people presence" in the inner city in the past six months. But with that he's also noticed more traffic.

The De Klerks have had a good response to the development, and the Johannesburg Development Agency is "very happy" with the conversion.

The Newtown

Award-winning architectural firm Urban Solutions owns 37 Quinn Street, which it plans to develop into 30 flats and seven penthouses, combined with two levels of offices. The building was once the headquarters of Premier Milling which, in 2002, sold 26 stands in Newtown to various developers. The development is to be called The Newtown.

Urban Solutions has already developed The Mills, on the corner of Quinn and Carr streets, into office space, and the firm plans to create a 700-car parking garage directly behind 37 Quinn Street.

The website describes the flats as "urban chic" with "sweeping views of Joburg's skyline", with steel windows right around each unit.

There will be six flats on each floor, from the second to the sixth floors, and seven double-storey penthouses on the top of the building, accommodated in an extra floor being added by the architects, says Alexia Cocolas, one of Urban Solutions' architects.

The building was originally built in the 1950s as a two-storey structure; another five storeys were added in the late 1970s.

Two finishes are available: a standard and upgrade. The prices range from R490 000 for a one-bedroom flat to R1,7-million for a two-bedroom penthouse.

Sizes range from 58m² to 160m². All the penthouses, with great views of the city and Newtown, have been sold, but there are still 10 units available.

The building will contain a gym and is a stone's throw from the varied entertainment on offer around Mary Fitzgerald Square.

Other residential developments

Other private developers have made a considerable contribution to creating residential space within the CBD. Urban Ocean has bought 10 inner city buildings, and will create 15 loft apartments in the Corner House; 135 units in The Franklin, formerly the Ernst & Young building; 36 units in 1 Rissik Street; and 60 units in Shakespeare Place, formerly Shakespeare House.

Developer Brian Green and his partners Peter Still and Mark Batchelor are turning the former First National Bank (FNB) building in Commissioner Street into 22 loft apartments, with a magnificent food emporium in the former ground floor banking hall. The first residents will be moving in in about three months' time, says Green, the developer of the trendy 44 Stanley Avenue in Milpark.

Property development and management company City Property has acquired 43 buildings recently, most of them in the CBD. In the coming 18 months it will be putting 855 residential units on the market, says Scott Jones, the general manager of City Property.

This includes Plaza Place, on the corner of Rissik and Jeppe streets, which will offer 213 bachelor, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units; Harland House on the corner of Marshall and Loveday streets, with 105 units; Leisk House, on the corner of Bree and Rissik streets, with 94 units; and Persam House, on the corner of Bree and Loveday streets, with 192 units.

The Affordable Housing Company owns 33 buildings in the CBD, Braamfontein and New Doornfontein. Some 29 of these are residential buildings, with 2 500 units for rent. Once all the buildings are refurbished, in five years' time, an additional 2 000 units will be available to the rental market.

These developers and the buyers of their properties, are eligible for tax write-offs under the country's Urban Development Zone (UDZ) regulations.

Johannesburg has the country's largest UDZ at 1 800ha, encompassing the inner city and surrounding suburbs.

The incentive allows developers to deduct renovation costs against income over five years, or new building costs over 16 years. New legislation going through parliament will allow purchasers to deduct a percentage of the purchase price of the property from their tax submissions.