Cape Town - The successful inner city rejuvenation programme in the Mother City was increasingly attracting international investor attention, Michael Farr, the chief executive of the Cape Town Partnership, said yesterday.
Last week the partnership was visited by Richard Cotton, the managing partner of 237-year-old Cluttons, one of the UK's leading property companies.
Farr expected to soon start further discussions with potential investors keen on leisure and business opportunities.
Cotton said investment-hungry cities in the UK, New Zealand, Canada and Australia were seeking to emulate Cape Town's approach.
Investors were increasingly making enquiries about opportunities in the central business district (CBD), which had been transformed from the 'crime and grime' of old, historically important but neglected buildings to beautifully restored complexes.
Farr said a major challenge had been, for example, to take highly stressed buildings in Adderley Street, gut them, restore their historic facades and install up-to-date cabling, air conditioning and 700 parking bays in an area desperately short of parking before.
The result was now called Adderley Park, which should be completed by the middle of next year after investments totalling about R70 million.
Another was the Old Town Square, which covered the cultural precinct in the eastern part of the city bounded by Darling and Roeland Streets. It had cost about R35 million to upgrade and would be worth about R70 million once it was fully let.
Cotton said last week that downtown Cape Town had set a world standard for inner city rejuvenation, one comparable to similar successes in New York and Barcelona.
'Our firm was integrally involved in the redevelopment of London's Docklands,' he said. 'And in many respects Cape Town's central city has even more potential, if only because the Cape Town Partnership model seamlessly integrates the best endeavours, resources and talents of the two crucial players - city government and the private sector.'
Cotton, who met Farr to discuss marketing the central city to British, Middle Eastern and European investors, said areas of the CBD with particular promise included the Shuttleworth e-City Precinct in the East City, the Foreshore and converted residential areas.
'Working closely with property developers, we have specialised in London loft developments, and Cape Town's stock of historic buildings is ideally suited to this purpose,' Cotton said. 'The East City, given the desirability of living and working in Cape Town, is tailor-made for international information technology and leisure operations.
'On the Foreshore, especially around Culemborg, there is precious space for major mixed-use, large scale projects.'
Farr said he welcomed the new dimension which global participants like Cluttons brought to the city's efforts to attract international investment.
'We already work very closely with other major property investment companies in Cape Town who have access to potential international investors in renewal, such as Pam Golding and FPD Savills,' he said.
'Despite our limited marketing resources, in just three years levels of new investment in the CBD have doubled to R9 billion.
'All the signs are that we will exceed our 2002 target of R1 billion by year end,' he said.
The Cape Town Partnership is an institutionalised partnership between the public and private sectors. One of its four forums, the Business Forum, consists of about 35 corporate members who banded together three years ago to inject new life into the CBD.
The partnership has managed to bring down crime in the area by about 60 percent by supporting special patrolling and monitoring.
Publisher: Business Report
Source: Business Report
Foreign investors migrate to Cape Town's new inner city.
Posted On Tuesday, 26 November 2002 10:01 Published by eProperty News
Cape Town - The successful inner city rejuvenation programme in the Mother City was increasingly attracting international investor attention, Michael Farr, the chief executive of the Cape Town Partnership.
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