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Business and the government are investigating a major redevelopment of the run-down Cape Town Station precinct in a bid to meet growing demand for retail and office space in the central business district (CBD).

August 2, 2007 By Tom Robbins Cape Town – Business and the government are investigating a major redevelopment of the run-down Cape Town Station precinct in a bid to meet growing demand for retail and office space in the central business district (CBD). Already, the Cape Town inner city turnaround has attracted residential developments and restaurants targeted at young professionals, but they frequently prefer the up-scale shops in nearby suburbs such as Gardens. Central City Improvement District chairman Theodore Yach said yesterday that over the past two to three years, at least 5 000 mostly higher-income residents had moved to the CBD and immediate surroundings to give a total of at least 65 000. This trend was set to continue. Retailer Woolworths said this week that together with Old Mutual Properties, it was “investigating” redeveloping two low-rise Adderley Street Properties. The current Woolworths clothing store includes a food section in the basement. This hardly offers convenience and longer trading hours for the target market, who live in nearby studio apartments. While Woolworths and Old Mutual were reluctant to provide details of plans for the zone, Yach said that over the next three to five years, “a totally different retail environment will be rolled out”.

Louis Karol, the chief executive of Louis Karol Architects, said there had been inquiries on the development of two R1 billion CBD skyscrapers, but he did not give details. His firm designed the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

The last high-rise built in the city was Safmarine House in 1993.

Despite the regeneration of the city, the Cape Town station has remained a hot bed for crime. The SA Rail Commuter Corporation intends to spend R100 million upgrading the station and is already improving security.

According to Woolworths, other players, including Growthpoint, which owns Golden Acre shopping centre, and Sun International, the owner of the Cape Sun hotel, were considering similar upgrades.

Andre Stadler, the managing director of Catalyst Fund Managers, said it was a natural extension to add retail and office space to existing residential apartments, as it was a global trend “to live, work and play in the same place”.

But Stadler said outlying areas such as the Century City node also offered this lifestyle and those with young children might be reluctant to live in the inner city.

At present, much of the CBD’s retail serves a lower segment rail commuter market through stores such as Shoprite and OK Furniture.