Residential; Heritage Decay Citichat 10 August 2007

.


CITICHAT 31/2007 - 10 August 2007



One step forward and a number back - more good news and more of the same bad news.



On two mornings this past week I was taken to see the changes that are taking place in specific areas in the inner city. Both were to the south of Market Street. The biggest noticeable change was the sheer numbers of people now working in buildings that less than eighteen months ago were virtually empty. And developers are saying that if they had more space they could fill it and, in fact construction abounds in some areas. Probably two main issues that are having a strong and positive effect are the economy itself but secondly, that people who have resisted working in the inner city are now either buying good accommodation in the city or are enjoying the benefits of easy transport and the rapidly growing service economy that is materializing in order to support them. We need a big push to deal with the environment around these specific areas, I hear in one instance of an area around some of the major buildings being deliberately held up because of unacceptable demands on the property owner by a council entity. This sort of attitude must be stopped otherwise it really is a story of one step forward….!



The other really good news that I received this week relates to the buy-out of the notorious Dunwell and Softstone properties with concommitmant plans to refurbish these. The purchase of the Dunwell portfolio is evidently subject to a number of conditions precedent that still need to be fulfilled Here we have so-called ‘slum lording’ being taken up and, with the quality of those who have purchased and will refurbish the properties, I have no doubt that a series of what can be described as ‘sink-holes’ amongst the twenty four buildings involved in the deal, will be turned around and once again be an asset to the city. According to the press release:



ApexHi Properties Limited has acquired two residential property portfolios (the Dunwell and Softstone portfolios) for R246-million and will invest a further R91-million in refurbishing costs in a joint venture with residential specialists, Aengus Property Holdings. The purchase of the Dunwell portfolio is subject to a number of conditions precedent that still need to be fulfilled.



The Dunwell portfolio, which consists of 15 residential properties located in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, will be acquired for R115-million. An additional R78-million will be incurred in refurbishing costs. A portion of the portfolio, at a cost of R47-million, will be refurbished and held as investment property, the balance of the portfolio, purchased and refurbished for R146-million, will be sold to investors.



The Softstone portfolio will be acquired for R131-million and a further R11-million will be incurred in refurbishing costs. The portfolio consists of nine residential properties in Hospital Hill, Johannesburg, Hillbrow, Braamfontein, Parktown and Berea. The joint venture will retain a portfolio of R86-million, the balance of the portfolio will be disposed of.



Aengus Properties have been working with ApexHi since last year and the relationship has been extremely positive for the city – Aengus has developed ‘Braamfontein Lofts’ from what used to be Biccard House; ‘Fashion Lofts’ from Kelhof; ‘Lofts@66’ from mothballed 66 Smal Street and ‘Tribeca Lofts’ from African City – the bulk of the 514 extremely good quality residential accommodation has been sold often within days of coming on the market. There is a close link between this and my earlier comment – there is a growing number of people now working in the inner city who also prefer staying here. Ten years ago I would have been burnt at the stake for suggesting that this was the way we would go!



The second issue that hit me forcibly on my walk around is that in relation to some issues - nothing changes. The older sink-holes in the city are still being allowed to rot and do their damage. One visual aspect of the inner city that continues to be of major concern to me, is the treatment (or rather the lack thereof) of buildings, old and not so old, scattered throughout the inner city. The irresponsibility of both some private developers and of all levels of government in regard to these buildings is appalling. Walked past the Irish Barracks in Marshall Street and was dismayed to see that it is still a burnt-out shell. The building has not been in use for decades. The fire that partly destroyed this building took place years ago and was probably caused by vandals burning the plastic sheathing off stolen copper wire. For some time before the fire, it was used by the City as a store for informal traders – it housed ex-supermarket trolleys and goods the movement of which to and from the building created havoc with traffic. I understand that the building belongs to Central Government who are supposed to be the leaders of preservation of the country’s heritage. What a joke! Remember Drill Hall? It had to have a series of fires that almost destroyed it and cost numerous lives before the City Council stepped in, took over ownership and restored as much as what was left. The Irish Barracks must be classified as a ‘sinkhole’ yet the central government owner, through its Works Department, ignores genuine interest from those who are keen to place the building back into the daily life of the city. And the City does nothing – surely the new urban management regime that has been spoken about for months should see this as an urgent responsibility? Of course the building has become even more of an eyesore now that the buildings that surround it have been upgraded – someone needs to get off their butt fast!



Our National Heritage Resources Act contains all the ‘right words’ – “enable and encourage communities to nurture and conserve their legacy so that it may be bequeathed to future generations….. our heritage is unique and precious and it cannot be renewed. It helps us to define our cultural identity and therefore lies at the heart of our spiritual well-being and has the power to build our nation.”



Oswald Spengler (the ‘Decline of the West’ and ‘Cities’) aptly wrote in the early 20th century “We cannot comprehend political, social and economic history at all unless we realise that the city…..is the determinative form to which the course and sense of higher history generally conforms. World history is city history.”



To which Donovan Rypkema, in his excellent paper on ‘Globalisation, Heritage Buildings and the 21st Century’ adds “….historic preservation allows a city the opportunity to modernise without having to Westernise. More than that - historic preservation is the irreplaceable variable to achieve modernisation without Westernisation.



A level down from Central Government we have a Provincial Legislature that that acts just as badly as its superior – no worse, given Provincial heritage responsibility. The Rissik Street Post Office – supposedly bought by the Provincial Legislature some years back for office space – daily disintegrates. Its unique historic clock and bells long since melted down in a scrap buyers yard whilst the building daily becomes more and more of a cancer on the urban fabric. Provincial Government is supposed to provide the government agency that is entrusted to manage Gauteng’s heritage. What a joke!



In March they provided yet another demolition permit of a building known for, and drawn to their attention, for its heritage value. Although it is not within the Inner City but in Parkwood it is another example of the total disrespect they have for legislative procedures as well as apparent disinterest in heritage preservation.



The private sector’s hands are not clean either. The quite remarkable turn- around that the city has experienced has resulted in what appears to me to be major exploitation of the urban environment. A number of private buyers, unlike the two mentioned previously and, thankfully, many others, have bought substantial numbers of buildings for very little over the past few years and for which they are quite happy to pay rates yet see them rot until the market goes even higher and they can make a killing.. Just good business? For them, maybe, but for the inner city it certainly isn’t because of the negative impact that the empty buildings, some of which are rotting hulks, have on the city. How can a property owner be permitted to surround a building with hoardings for a couple of years or have street parking bays closed also for years, yet do nothing with the building without the city paying any attention at all? Is the city happy to merely collect their rates and ignore the negative impact on the city itself? Again, hopefully when the much vaunted urban management programme is put into place (when?) maybe we’ll see some appropriate reaction. Personally, I think that it is time to become punitive.



Trust you enjoyed ‘Women’s Day’ and are having a great long week-end, best regards, neil