Take the Emira Property Fund-owned Lake Buena Vista office building fronting on Centurion Lake for example.

Built 22 years ago, it is classified as B-grade office space and attracts only modest rentals of R55/m² gross in the current Centurion office letting market.

However, Emira’s management team motivated to its Board that by spending R34,3m on upgrading the building to A-grade office space they should be able to attract rentals of closer to R100/m² gross for the refurbished space – significantly improving its rental returns.

Not surprisingly, the refurbishment project was given the go-ahead and is now well under way.

Emira management’s foresight has paid off handsomely. It recently secured, through the Leasing and Investment Broking division of RMB Properties, a five-year lease with FirstRand subsidiary Outsurance for the property – effective from 1 July 2008.

Says Emira CEO, James Templeton:

“It’s not always possible to accomplish upgrades of this magnitude while doing the building work around the existing tenants, but in this instance the vacant nature of the building (the largest tenant vacated in April 2007) allowed us to forge ahead.”

More specifically, the refurbishment has allowed Emira to bring additional A-grade office space on to the market ahead of its competitors – some 73 000 m² additional A-grade space is planned in the near-term for Centurion - giving it a distinctive edge in the office letting market.

What, exactly, does the facelift to Lake Buena Vista involve?

• The ground floor is being converted into an additional level of parking raising the building’s parking ratio from 2,3 bay/ 100 m² to a more desirable 3 bays/ 100 m². And, with further parking becoming available, the ratio should rise to 5 bays per 100m2
• Some of the balconies on the building are being converted to additional office space – thereby raising the gross lettable area from 5 735 m² to 6 169 m²
• Common area space is being rationalised and the lift shaft is being moved to the centre of the building making the office floors more sub divisible with less wasted space
• And, the exterior of the building is being re-clad with sandstone tiling, aluminium gazed shop fronts are being fitted in the lobbies, an atrium feature wall and acoustic lay-in ceilings are being added, the air-conditioning system replaced and the ablution facilities are being upgraded
   

Says Templeton:

“Once the upgrade is completed, Lake Buena Vista will have all the amenities and features of other A-grade office buildings in the area making it more than competitive in the current letting environment, giving the building a much longer shelf life - consequently improving returns for Emira participatory interest holders over time.”

And the cherry on the top? Lake Buena Vista is only a few doors down from the busy Centurion Mall and, though it is on the opposite side of the lake from the proposed Centurion Gautrain Station in West Street, it is still within easy walking distance.