Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa October 2016 | Page 49

“Commercial and retail property developers and traders that are keeping up with these game-changing trends and are accommodating the needs of CBDs’ growing residential communities are the ones that will reap the benefits,” says Van der Vent. NEALE PETERSEN’s MENTORSHIP & COACHING PROGRAMME Game-changing trends of a growing urban population Van der Vent’s trends for Cape Town’s CBD - a livework-play destination where the residential population is estimated to have grown from around 750 to almost 7 000 over the last 16 years - are (according to The State of Cape Town Central City Report 2015): • Night-time economy – The Central City has steadily been moving towards a 24/7 economy over the past five years as more people are working in businesses such as call centres. The urban population continues to expand and an increasing number of the city’s visitors and tourists are looking for after-hour activities. There is now a higher demand for retail with longer trading hours, latenight restaurants and delicatessen-type food stores. There are a number of opportunities in this regard still to be taken up, particularly after hours. • Office sharing – co-working is on the rise in the CBD as small businesses and freelance workers continually hunt for rent space within a larger setup where they can share facilities while working in a professional environment. “This is a situation also beneficial to landlords looking to increase the number of tenants,” reads the CCID’s report. • People-centric office design – Clients and tenants of Central City office buildings prefer an open-plan environment with small break-out rooms for meetings, as well as open kitchen areas, social recreation areas, ambient lighting and showers for staff who work out. • “Third place” - Urbanists seem to favour a “third place”, the global concept “third place” means some golden midway between the “first place” (the home environment) and the “second place” (the work environment) according to American urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg. Whether these informal public gathering places are cafés, clubs or parks, they are crucial for civil society, democracy and civic engagement to thrive. All of which are opportunities for property developers and public-private partnerships. RESOURCES Quoin Online www.reimag.co.za YOUR EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO MENTORSHIP! “Formal education will make you a living; selfeducation will make you a fortune” Jim Rohn For more info contact 021 761 3848 www.nealepetersen.com