SA Affordable Housing May - June 2019 // Issue: 76 | Page 30

PROJECTS
Jewel City brings six
Joburg CBD blocks to life
The strategic urban rejuvenation of the iconic Jewel City is forging ahead.
By Divercity Urban Property Fund
The face of Johannesburg’s CBD is being brought back to life as six city blocks that have been closed to the public for decades are
being redeveloped.
C
onstruction of Divercity Urban Property Fund’s
redevelopment of Jewel City is changing the face of
Johannesburg’s CBD and revitalising six city blocks
that have been closed to the public for decades. The
development will be a mixed-use and amenity-rich
affordable housing precinct.
The project commenced in October 2018, with phased
completion expected from November 2019 until April 2020.
Work has started on the first new residential building and,
in addition, the first residential conversion of an existing
building on site is now underway.
The Jewel City redevelopment initiative is a substantial
investment in Joburg by Divercity, a new investment fund
that is renewing and re-energising South Africa’s urban
centres with unique inner-city precinct development.
Divercity combines commercial buildings with affordable
residential accommodation to create inclusive and diverse
neighbourhoods. Its key shareholders and stakeholders are
Atterbury Property, Ithemba Property and Talis Property
Fund and its cornerstone investors are RMH Property and
Nedbank Property Partners.
By redeveloping Jewel City’s existing office and light
industrial buildings and constructing about 30 000m 2 of
new residential buildings from the ground up, the total
development area will be more than 40 000m 2 . The
previously ‘closed-off area’ of the city will be converted into
a thriving, modern inner-city neighbourhood that will
include 1 200 new residential apartments in its first phase
and up to 1 000 in its second phase.
Leading South African property developer and investor
Atterbury is managing the development for Divercity and
reports that Nomad Construction is the appointed
contractor of the first residential redevelopment, Block One.
The WBHO / Matheo joint venture (JV) is the appointed
contractor for the first new residential building, Block Six,
and all other elements of the development.
The master programme for Jewel City has been
orchestrated so the development of all six buildings of the
first phase will be completed at the same time.
“There will be a crescendo of activity as those buildings
that require less time for completion are progressively
added to the active construction programme,” explains
See more on page 30
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MAY - JUNE 2019
www.saaffordablehousing.co.za