CAPE TOWN CITY CENTRE : A Rejuvenation Success Story

CAPE TOWN CITY CENTRE : A Rejuvenation Success Story

Category Property Investment

In the late 1990s Cape Town City Centre was run down, crime ridden and increasingly vacant as a business district. With a desire to reverse the decay, the Cape Town Partnership was formed by local business leaders with a passion for the urban environment, followed by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) in 2000. The CCID was the first of its kind in South Africa. Funded by property owners it's remit was to clean up the 'crime and grime', and attract inward investment in the Central Business District (CBD).

A wave of residential development followed between 2001 and 2006, with both commercial building conversions and new build developments springing up across the CBD. Within just a few years, some 3,500 apartments in over 40 residential blocks, including the likes of Mutual Heights, Cartwright's Corner, Mandela Rhodes Place and Icon offered modern lifestyle living primarily for young professionals, who wanted to 'live, work, and play' in the city centre. New retail, restaurants, cafes, galleries and boutique shops followed. The turnaround from urban decay to a functioning CBD had been achieved in just ten years, and was seen as a role model, not just by other urban centres in South Africa, but by other cities around the world that were facing the challenges of how to revitalise their urban centres.

Subsequent mixed-use and residential developments over the last decade have taken the inventory of apartments across the city centre to around 5000. Like so many places, Cape Town CBD has taken a knock during 2020 due to the impact of the COVID pandemic and lock down measures. As we enter 2021, Cape Town City Centre is once again heading into an exciting new phase of investment and construction, which will undoubtedly revitalise and rejuvenate the various precincts within it. A new wave of both mixed-use and pure residential buildings are either in the planning stage, or due to break ground in 2021, with the investment funding for them being a huge vote of confidence in the central city and its future. The foreshore and east city precincts are particularly worth watching closely. There is a great deal happening in those two areas. As before, where residential complexes are built, retail and eateries automatically follow on. Coupled with this a world class public transport infrastructure in the form of the MyCiti bus network, which serves the CBD extremely well, and there is a recipe for success and growth in downtown Cape Town.

Here a some great examples of City Centre Apartments currently on the market for Sale & Rent:

For Sale

• 2 Bedroom Apartment at The Adderley Terraces
• 2 Bedroom Apartment at The Onyx
• 2 Bedroom Aparment at Mandela Rhodes Place
• 1 Bedroom Apartment at Mutual Heights

For Rent

• 1 Bedroom Apartment at Mandela Rhodes Place
• 1 Bedroom Apartment at The Icon Luxury Apartments
• 2 Bedroom Apartment at Cartwrights Corner
• 1 Bedroom Apartment at Cartwrights Corner

Author: Richard Boxford