The redevelopment will bring 5,500sqm of specialty retail and restaurant space on stream, along with 10,000sqm of premier offices, ideal for international business people and clients. Showcasing a modern, light and open design, a key attraction of the redevelopment will be the restaurant piazza at the heart of The Firs.

“The Firs will offer discerning customers white table-cloth dining at a selection of handpicked restaurants,” says Investec Property’s managing director Sam Leon. “A restaurant façade will be created leading into the mall as part of the new design.”

Regular patrons of the established and popular Katzy’s and The Grill House needn’t worry though – these two fixtures will stay exactly where they are and expanding their operations to make full use of restaurant piazza.
 
The soon-to-be-built Rosebank Gautrain station is driving a flurry of new development in the node, as is the Rosebank Urban Development Framework, recently approved by the City of Johannesburg.
 
"Rosebank is evolving into a higher-density, mixed-use transport node with a keen focus on pedestrian and street-level interaction," explains Leon.
 
"Thanks to careful forward planning and thoughtful development design, the characteristic village feel of the node is being preserved and also enhanced."

According to the Rosebank Management District, examples of other activity in the node include the proposed mixed-use precinct planned by Standard Bank between Bolton Road, Bath Avenue, Baker Street and Oxford Road; and the R623 million second phase of The Zone, which will bring additional retail, loft offices and a 160-room hotel onstream. The second phase of The Zone is intrinsically linked for pedestrians to The Firs to create one indivisible flow, the link will be opened on completion of The Zone phase.

Tiber Property Group is developing a six-storey building with offices, showrooms and cafés on Oxford Road opposite The Hyatt.

“The combined effect is a consolidated, thriving mixtures of uses within a single, walkable node that appeals to international business travelers, tourists, shoppers, residents and professionals working in the area,” says Leon.

“And all in time for the opening of the Rosebank Gautrain Station.”