Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2016 | Page 46

TRENDS

The Benefits of Mixed-Use Facilities
Mixed-use facilities yield greater gains and spreads risk
BY ADRIAN MASEROW

D

evelopment projects may be classified as
“mixed-use” if they provide more than one
use or purpose within a shared building or
development area. Mixed-use projects may include
any combination of housing, office, retail, medical,
recreational, commercial or industrial components.
These projects might vary in scale from a single
building occupied by a retail shop on the ground
floor with an upstairs apartment to a comprehensive
“urban village” development with multiple buildings
containing separate but compatible uses such as a
retail center, office building and medical clinic located
adjacent to a multi-family housing complex.
A single owner and business operator might
occupy a mixed-use building, or multiple housing
and commercial tenants could lease space within a
mixed-use development project. Mixed-use projects
often involve the redevelopment of buildings and
blocks located in aging inner-city commercial
districts. However, new construction of mixed-use
development is occurring in urban and suburban
communities as well.
Regardless of the form it takes, mixed-use
development is an integral part of most communiti \