A new development in the central business district is adding to the artistic character of the area, which already has Arts on Main and August House.
In April 2009, developer Jonathan Liebmann said he was "on the prowl", looking for further properties to develop. Well, he's found one, and it looks to be just as exciting as his Arts on Main project.
The roof will become an event space, with a splash pool, a bar and small gym
A seven-storey building on the corner of Fox, Maritzburg and Main streets, just a block east of Arts on Main, is being turned into a multipurpose building with a large residential component, a boutique hotel, and an intriguing mix of retail, consisting of shops, restaurants, and an independent art house cinema.
The roof will become an event space, with a splash pool, a bar and small gym. What the roof also offers is wonderful 360° views of the city. It is to be completed with a Marcus Neustetter sculpture, in the form of a fantastic metal telescope.
Main Street Life, as the project is to be called, will consist of 140 one-bedroomed studio apartments, 25 two-bedroomed apartments and on the top floor, seven penthouses. Between the penthouses will be 12 boutique hotel rooms, to be called The 12 Decades.
Twelve designers and artists have been called in to each design a room, taking a theme from the 12 decades that Johannesburg has been in existence, says Russell Grant.
Grant is already resident in the building, among the dust and noise of construction. He has moved into a pure white single apartment, overlooking the northern edges of the CBD, and acts as marketing manager and real estate agent for the building.
Mainstreetlife.tv
His marketing takes an unusual form - he is documenting his life in the building through a website called mainstreetlife.tv. Potential buyers and others can follow Grant, a film and fine arts graduate, around the building via the website. This way they get to see how the development is coming along.
He explains that each floor will contain two creative spaces formed in the foyers: a collaboration space and an exhibition space. This means that artists will work together in one space, then exhibit their work in the other.
This also means that Liebmann is looking to attract people in the creative industries to buy into the building. He hopes to have the apartments ready for occupation by June this year.
Grant has moved into the CBD from a two-bedroomed flat in Houghton, near the Victory Theatre. It is thus a big leap for him, a change he says he is enjoying.
Old factory buildings adjacent to August House will be turned into residential units But he's got more on his plate
"So far it's been great," he says.
"I am exploring the area, trying to create the lifestyle." This means that he is establishing where people can get the basics for living in the area - like groceries. At the moment, he shops at Woolworths Food in Gandhi Square. The building is still to get a laundrette so for now he is taking his laundry home.
Two-bedroomed apartments, of around 70sqm, will sell for R490 000, while penthouses of different sizes will go for between R750 000 and R980 000. Four penthouses have already been sold. The one-bedroomed studio apartments, of 35sqm, will sell for R290 000. The two- and one-bedroomed apartments can be bought either furnished or unfurnished.
Exceeded expectations
Liebmann indicates that the way Arts on Main, a collection of interleading buildings between Fox, Main and Berea streets in the eastern CBD, has taken off has exceeded his expectations. He bought the five warehouses that make up Arts on Main in late 2008. By mid-2009 several galleries had moved in, and it's now become the hip venue for new artists to showcase their work.
Tenants include Bailey's African History Archives, the Goodman Gallery, the David Krut Gallery, the Seippel Gallery, the Goethe-Institut, the Nirox Foundation, a literature project called Right on the Rim, an architect's firm and an advertising company. The anchor tenant is renowned artist William Kentridge.
Arts on Main is pulled together around a restaurant, Canteen, which opens on to a courtyard filled with olive and lemon trees. The roof of the restaurant has been used as an outdoor cinema.
Other developments
Other residential developments on this side of town include the five-storey August House in End Street, which art curator and cultural developer Bie Venter turned around in early 2007.
Formerly a small-scale factory building, it now has a completely new persona. Several city artists - Gordon Froud, Mary Sibande, Diane Victor, among others - have studios in the building. In addition, nine loft apartments are fully occupied, says Venter.
Arts on Main: warehouses were converted into galleries and studios
"You can walk safely to Arts on Main from August House. There is a synergy between the two," she adds.
Venter hopes to make the roof of August House - a large space with garden, benches and a braai area - available for hire for functions related to the 2010 FIFA World Cupâ„¢.
Property developer Paul Berman, of Consolidate Urban Corporation, has bought the two buildings adjacent to August House, on the corner of End and Pritchard streets.
He intends converting the former factory buildings in 90 residential units, 60 in Paris House, and 30 in Sutherland House. He estimates that the units will be ready for occupation by November.
Berman has been in the property market for the past four years, and has converted 25 buildings to residential use, in all some 900 units, catering for the lower and middle income and student groups.
He is also filling a necessary gap for temporary accommodation for shoppers from neighbouring countries. They usually stay for a few weeks, buying goods to resell back home.
JDA's input
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has spent about R24-million on revamping the area adjacent to Arts on Main, Jewel City. Apex Hi, the major property owner in the precinct, contributed R4-million.
Stormwater outlets and drainage, street lighting, clean freeway columns, new pedestrian ramps and pavements with geometric mosaic shapes in diamond-shaped slabs, have given the precinct a fresh look. The installation of 15 CCTV cameras has completed the revamp.
An artwork by Shepherd Ndudzo - a dramatic stone and wood sculpture in the shape of an elongated diamond - was unveiled in late 2008 by JDA chief executive Lael Bethlehem on the intersection of Commissioner and Berea streets.
The JDA also replaced the paving around the Arts on Main block, planting trees and erecting concrete bollards.
Article and photographs courtesy of City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za).
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