ApexHi MD David Rice says the company found it difficult to achieve rentals for the office space that would support the necessary upgrade to the building. “We invested a cost of R17-million to convert the office space into 130 residential bachelor apartments and three glass-fronted penthouses,” he says.

Berea Lofts, a section of the ApexHi-owned Berea Centre, was the first conversion of its kind in Durban, and was handled by Aengus Properties, who carried out similar projects with ApexHi in Johannesburg. In this development Aengus earns fees and the entire development profit is for ApexHi’s account.

The units, aimed at middle income earners all have air conditioning, fridges, DStv, hobs, insulated walling, 24 hour security and biometric access control.
All the units will be sold as sectional title units and range from R230,000 to R850,000. In addition, ApexHi will retain ownership of the retail component of the development, which is set to benefit from the residents living above the centre.

To date 109 units have been sold, with a further nine reserved. 102 of the sales were already transferred at the end of May.

ApexHi expects to show profits of R13,5-million this financial year, and a further R6-million in the next financial year if the company is successful in selling the balance of the apartments. These profits will be distributed to investors, and translates into five cents per combined unit in this financial year, and two cents next year.