SA Affordable Housing January - February 2019 // Issue: 74 | Page 7

NEWS
R1.2bn Jewel in Johannesburg
The first sod has been turned on the R1.2-billion Jewel City
redevelopment in Johannesburg’s CBD.
From left are: Phuti Mahanyela, non-executive director of Atterbury Property Fund and Mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba.
C
losed to the public for decades the Jewel City
precinct is set to be completely overhauled with
40 000m² of new buildings to be added, while
existing buildings will be entirely refurbished.
The revitalised Jewel City will reopen to the public as a
vibrant mixed-use precinct. It will be amenity-rich with a
school, clinic, gym, parking and convenience retail as well
as fast food and restaurants. It will also include 20 000m²
of commercial space, 1 200 new residential apartments in
its first phase and up to 1 000 in its second phase.
Divercity will launch more than 75 000m² of new
residential space in Johannesburg and Jewel City and its
surrounds over the next 18 months with more than 80% of
the 2 200 new apartments falling within the rental cost
range defined as social housing by the Social Housing
Regulatory Authority of South Africa.
Besides creating an inclusive world-class ‘live, work,
play’ precinct, the Jewel City project will enhance the area
and will be fully pedestrianised with a people-friendly
walkway along Fox Street. Its pedestrian walk links it with
two other Divercity projects; to the west, the new Absa
www.saaffordablehousing.co.za
Towers Main redevelopment and, to the east, new
residential developments in vibey Maboneng.
The development is also set to create significant
employment in the city with an estimated 1 279 temporary
jobs and 1 384 permanent jobs. In addition, it will
contribute to the municipal and national tax base.
Mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba at the opening
excitedly extolled the virtues of the new development.
“This is a catalyst for igniting the City of Johannesburg…
We can turn the city around… We can’t build it overnight,
but this is a beginning. We are ready to do business… This
was what South Africa needed. I hope that your
investment, your initiative, will trigger other investors to
identify the City of Johannesburg as the biggest real estate
opportunity in the world today.”
Non-executive director of Atterbury Property Fund
Phuti Mahanyela spoke at the landmark event on behalf of
Divercity, Ithemba and Atterbury saying, “It is so important
to see development and redevelopment right here in our
cities. It helps to undo apartheid-era spatial divides and
move towards more inclusive environments.”
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2019
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