R20-million upgrade and redevelopment for I&J’s old Green Point headquarters

An artist’s impression of the atrium at the revamped I&J building in Green Point.

The former Cape Town headquarters of the century-old I&J fishing group at 70 Prestwich Street, Green Point is due for a R20-million upgrade and redevelopment

Land Equity Investments, the holding vehicle of property entrepreneur Stuart Chait, intends transforming the building into a modern Triple A+ commercial development that will be rented out from R120/m2 in modules of 200m2 to 500 m2.

“We expect the project to take about four months to complete,” says Land Equity chief executive Russell Smith.

A low-rise structure in central Green Point, close to the V&A Waterfront and the Cape Quarter, the ‘new look’ 70 Prestwich Street will have a basement and a ground floor topped by three levels, with an atrium partially overlaid by a mezzanine level at the top.

Smith says other features will include a carrera white marble and wood entrance lobby, glass partitioning, high security, ample parking, and a ground floor coffee shop.

“Our brief to Peerutin Architects was to create the best common areas of any building in Cape Town. We believe the appearance of the entrance foyer, lifts, passages, and toilets all form part of the attraction for tenants. Keeping it timeless and clean is the key to a successful building,” says Smith.

“Land Equity Investments owns the property and is funding the redevelopment in a climate in which the banking community remains tight-fisted on the granting of credit. Undeterred by this, the group continues to look for other opportunities to acquire Peninsula buildings that lend themselves to reinvention and redevelopment.”

The 70 Prestwich Street building will be worth about R120m on completion, and is part of a R1 billion-plus pipeline of several commercial and residential property projects underway in the Cape Peninsula division of Land Equity Investments.

Other projects include:

• Nettleton Ridge, a R350m development of three luxury homes in an exclusive Clifton security estate below Lion’s Head.
• The R300m first and second phases of the Old Match Factory in Observatory, a business park that is evolving from the regeneration and redevelopment of the former Lion Match factory. The 11 500 m2 first phase has been let, and development of the 12 000 m2 second phase will begin when a tenant is secured. The project is a joint venture with Equity Estates.
• The R200m Nieuwe Steenberg gated estate in Tokai, in a joint venture with Warner Projects.

Smith says Land Equity is also looking at a further three developments in the Cape Town metropole with a capital value of R1bn. Call Russell Smith on 021 670 5050.