Pretoria - City Property Administration (CPA), which manages two listed property loan stock companies, has set its sights on Johannesburg's central business district (CBD) after its success with urban renewal projects in Pretoria.
CPA opened its first Johannesburg office last month following the joint venture it concluded with Old Mutual Properties last October to convert offices owned by the assurance giant in Johannesburg's CBD to apartments for letting.
It involves the redevelopment of the nine-storey New Plaza building at 150 Jeppe Street at a cost of R33 million.
Scott Jones, the general manager of CPA's Johannesburg office, said:
"We intend to achieve this through investment, primarily in CBD properties." CPA would use the model it had used in Pretoria's CBD to convert offices in Johannesburg.
Jones said this involved identifying a suitable office block for conversion and then establishing a private syndicate from its investor client base to acquire and convert the building.
Its clients include listed property funds Premium Properties and Octodec Investments and a number of individuals.
Jones said CPA had more than 10 000 tenants in Pretoria and managed nearly 6 000 residential units, many created through the conversion of unutilised office space into residential units.
Its urban renewal projects in Pretoria had translated into a remarkably low vacancy factor of 0.76 percent, Jones said.