Sea Point's iconic 'rotating rooftop' Ritz Hotel sells for around R240–R300 million

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Ash Muller, property broker and Mail & Guardian columnist.

Listen below: 

The Ritz Hotel in Sea Point, Cape Town, has been sold for around R240 million to R300 million by a large family-owned international brand, confirms Muller.

The hotel has been closed since 2018. 

Muller explains some history and stories from The Ritz...

"The Ritz for many has a lot of special emotional connections, people have had their matric dances there. Nelson Mandela stayed there after his release from Victor Verster Prison... the general manager at the time said he was the only guest to make his bed and clean his own room, and they used to chat over tea, and Nelson Mandela said he always found it quite incredible how on Robben Island he used to see The Ritz in the skyline of Sea Point and now he was in The Ritz looking back at Robben Island... so lots of history there."

- Ash Muller, Property Broker and Mail & Guardian Columnist

Muller explains what could happen with the hotel.

"Right now, they're still in the very early design stages... they're meeting with different architects still, so they'll still have to get things passed with the City and come up with a design so it could be that they keep the hotel... and not many people know that the retail in front is part of that complex, so they could go up there maybe, and build some offices, or they could do apartments, or they could just renovate that entire retail section."

- Ash Muller, Property Broker and Mail & Guardian Columnist

Muller believes this is a "huge value add" for Sea Point, despite the extraordinary amount it sold for.

"Either way, I think it's a huge value add for Sea Point... Sea Point Main Road for me, has many personalities - the more you drive along, the more you come into these different nodes with their own energy, and I think this specific area in Sea Point, she's tired and she's just been waiting for this upgrade, so I think it's just going to add value."

- Ash Muller, Property Broker and Mail & Guardian Columnist

"To smash this building down and rebuild it would be anywhere north of a billion, so I just think the building is going to come with its own challenges... there's a lot of work to be done there, but perhaps the price is more justified when you look at how much capex they're actually going to put into this project." 

- Ash Muller, Property Broker and Mail & Guardian Columnist

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.