Affordable city living at heart of Golden Acre transformation

Cape Talk's Clarence Ford chats to Lesego Majatladi, Director of Gracht Asset Managers.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below:

Cape Town’s once-thriving Golden Acre precinct is set for a major revival, with Gracht Asset Managers leading a bold transformation of the site into a mixed-use, inner-city development.

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• Golden Acre in Cape Town CBD is being sold 
• Golden Acre tower to be redeveloped into 414 residential units by 2027 

At the heart of the plan is the conversion of the commercial tower into 414 affordable rental apartments, specifically aimed at young professionals who work in the city but are priced out of home ownership.

"In terms of the building itself, the main thing that is happening is the conversion of the commercial tower into a residential development. That tower will then become accommodation with studio apartments and one-bed and two-bed apartments."

- Lesego Majatladi, Director - Gracht Asset Managers 

Majatladi confirms that these units will not be sold to investors in an effort to address concerns around housing accessibility and gentrification. 

"A lot of the pushback from Capetonians has been about their inability to purchase real estate in the city purely because of the price. To make this opportunity work, we had to take a long-term view and offer it as rental versus it being purchased by investors because that young working professional that we're trying to talk to may not have the means to purchase that unit, and that's actually who we want in that building."

- Lesego Majatladi, Director - Gracht Asset Managers 

"We believe that doing good can be good business, that's what we are trying to do... Instead of doing the conventional thing, which is to develop and then sell off the units, we will hold on to them, and that will then allow us to be quite competitive in the rental cost that we offer our target market." 

- Lesego Majatladi, Director - Gracht Asset Managers 

In addition to the residential shift, a 6,000 square-metre communal garden and clubhouse will be built above the parking structure, transforming unused concrete into a vibrant green space for residents to share.

"It's for us to do more than just have people live there, but it's to create a sense of community."

- Lesego Majatladi, Director - Gracht Asset Managers 

The retail area will also undergo a redesign to support a more vibrant, 18-hour urban lifestyle, supporting the City of Cape Town’s broader vision for a 24-hour downtown. 

"A healthy city is one where the night economy thrives because it means it's a safe place to walk around, and the only way we can get to that thriving night economy is to have younger people living in the city and not have this mass migration that happens in the early evening as people leave the city. We need those people to stay in the city, to go to a pub down the road, the grocer down the road – that is what will keep that night economy thriving."

- Lesego Majatladi, Director - Gracht Asset Managers

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.