​The City of Johannesburg reassured residents and developers on Friday, 26 October 2018 that 84 inner city properties will be released for development in a transparent and fair manner.

Responding to questions during a media tour of some of the inner city properties that have been earmarked for mixed-use development, the Joburg Property Company’s (JPC) Musa Makhunga said everything will be above board and deliberations will be conducted under strict public scrutiny.

The release of the 84 properties forms part of Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba’s vision of rejuvenating the inner city and turning Johannesburg into a construction site.

The inner city properties will be converted into affordable, low-cost housing for residents and affordable commercial spaces for the benefit of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Friday’s tour started at the Moth Building, which currently does not have municipal services like water and electricity after it was hijacked and council officials prevented from restoring services. The two-storey building has the potential to be refurbished for mixed-use development with special emphasis on mixed residential rentals and will target rentals that fall within the R800 to R1 000 range a month.

This was followed by a visit to the Samancor House in Marshalltown, which is a prime property offering an array of investment opportunities. “Samancor House is one of the gems among the properties that are owned by the City and whoever wins the rights to develop it will not need to do too much as the occupancy rate is hovering around 60%,” said Maphunga.

The final stop-over was at Salisbury Claims, a sectional development which can offer single and multi-tenant accommodation.
All the 84 properties and sites are dotted across Berea, City and Suburban, Jeppestown, Johannesburg Central, Marshalltown, Turffontein, Vrededorp and Yeoville. The properties range in size from 178sqm to 14 732 sqm and are zoned in a number of categories educational, residential, industrial, business and public open space. 

Tender documents are available for purchase for interested parties to respond to by early next year at the JPC’s office in Braampark.