Blend Property Group: The Bank to Bring New Life to Rosebank

In Rosebank – the trendy cosmopolitan hub between central Jo’burg and Sandton – a one-of-a-kind development described as ‘the ultimate investment node in Johannesburg’ has been carefully created by Blend Property Group.

The Bank, a unique and historic high-rise, has been injected with new life. A 1970s FNB building, on the corner of Tyrwhitt Road and Craddock Avenue, The Bank is perfectly nestled in the heart of a thriving business, residential and lifestyle community. Close to the Gautrain, Rosebank Mall, and the Zone shopping centre, this exciting new concept is a mixed-use development, home to first-class office space, an international hotel, and a restaurant which is quickly gaining a reputation as a shining light in the Johannesburg social scene because of its amazing food and chic but luxurious décor.

The 13-storey, 14,000m² development from Blend Property Group is described by CEO Mark Corbishley as a ‘feather in the cap’ after what was a challenging year for all businesses battling through tough conditions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Bank is a demonstration of the appeal of the area, attracting big names as tenants. It is home to the first voco® brand hotel in Africa – a product of the IHG Group – designed to bring business and professional travellers to the area. Office space has been taken by consistently successful businesses including Rand Merchant Investment Holdings, Transaction Capital and Taquanta Asset Managers. Workshop 17, one of the country’s leading flexible workspace providers, is involved with the provision of industry-leading office environments – an extremely important offering right now with the balance of home and on-site working shifting all the time. On the ground floor, the Trio Group has installed its latest offering, headed by chef Christo Nortier, the 250-seat Proud Mary restaurant.

A LANDMARK

For what was previously a relatively monotonous ‘70s bank building, the R500 million project is a major achievement for Blend Property Group and is a testament to South African design and creativity. Stylish, modern, upmarket and packed with innovation, The Bank is a success story for Gauteng, where development has been mixed with cranes only seen periodically over the past few decades.

“We’ve just completed it and we see it as a true landmark in the heart of Rosebank,” says Corbishley.

“We acquired the building in 2016 and sought the best and most artistic minds in the country to modernise. It started out as a 4000 m² four-storey structure but has been transformed.

“Most engineers will tell you that you can add one or two storeys to a property; we added eight. This involved significant reinforcement of the existing columns as well as beefing up the foundations. We had to bring in a specialised micro-pile machine (there was only one in South Africa) that could fit in our existing 2.3m high basement and place micro-piles around the existing columns; it was a four-month process and was exceptionally difficult.

“We have retail on the ground floor, we have serviced offices in partnership with Workshop 17 on the first and second, we have some vanilla office space that is available on the third and fourth, we have a 131 key voco® hotel – the first in Africa -, and the top two floors are home to RMI Holdings in what we call the penthouse office spaces.”

Currently, the property is a complete project and 5000m² of the 6000m² total office space has been let. The hotel is expected to open in September as Covid restrictions in international markets ease and confidence returns to the tourism industry.

“It attracts global leaders who identify with the vision of living with easy access to modern conveniences and services without the pretentiousness so prevalent in upscale developments,” says Corbishley.

Rosebank’s population is small. The suburb only has a minor residential offering, but those that live in the area contribute to a range of big businesses with head offices based locally. Clearly, the appeal of Rosebank is for visitors. Shoppers, leisure, business and commercial travellers coming into the area know that they can expect vibrant pedestrian and café culture within the suburb’s characteristic village charm and contemporary city-style.

SA’S BEST

The Bank has been lovingly revitalised by South Africa’s own Daffonchio Architects and Enrico Daffonchio, alongside Nkuli Nhleko of Imbewu Design who completed the interior design. Littered with fine art, collated by Art Gazette curator Morné Visagie and SA art veteran David Krut, shared space at The Bank has not been left out. One of the largest collections of South African art to ever be located in a single space, the collection at The Bank covers the restaurant, offices, hotel and courtyard.

Proud Mary, with its feeling of a glitzy 20s Manhattan whisky bar, was decked out by Sketch Studios and comes from popular restaurateurs Gary Hollywood and Warren Murley.

“We launched Proud Mary and it has been a phenomenal success – it is the talk of the town at the moment,” says Corbishley. “We have a huge number of A-listers that have frequented the space. At one lunch sitting, we had Victor Matfield on one table, Kerry McGregor at the bar, and Black Coffee with friends on another table. It is the place to be and it has created quite the spin in the Jo’burg social scene which is nice for social media attention.

“We took the decision to not have a food and beverage operation within the hotel, we decided to outsource it. Proud Mary does both its own patrons as well as the hotel – so as a guest of voco® at The Bank, you can walk down and have breakfast at Proud Mary and it will be an à la carte breakfast experience rather than a typical hotel buffet. They will also do the room service, corporate functions for the offices, and food for Workshop 17.”

Importantly, The Bank has been designed with the future in mind and utilises modern technology that adds environmental efficiency to the building. Soon, the building will operate completely independently from the Eskom grid, and Corbishley is also keen to get the building away from the national water supply.

“It’s a nice story in terms of the greening of the building,” he says. “We have some amazing technology, including a 90kw solar array on the roof and a 416kw gas genset as we are connected, via a high-pressure gas line into the building, to the Egoli Gas line. We expect the building to draw approximately 400kw on average and, for 90% of its usage, this building will be completely off-grid. We are looking at putting a battery pack that will be able to store energy and take us off the power grid completely.

“We are busy installing a borehole in the basement which will supplement the municipal supply, this water will be filtered to sans 214 compliance before joining our municipal supply.

“We have a first-of-its-kind in Africa air conditioning system – a Mitsubishi VRF. As all units are linked to a central control, we are able to load throttle the start-up and prevent unnecessary peak draws. The hotel component uses Mitsubishi’s two-pipe heat recovery system, this system uses special BC controllers that use by-product from one unit for another unit’s heat/cooling source. In the morning, heat given off by cooling rooms on the eastern façade is diverted to units on the western façade that are in warming mode; much of the building’s need can be handled just by off-setting, without the need for external energy sources – it’s very clever.”

The design of the façade includes 65% face brick and 35% double glazing – 12mm argon infill with thermal aluminium frames and automatic louvres for the harsher western façade.

The Bank also comes with a full ICT package, including back-up internet lines, to ensure businesses are uninterrupted. Valet parking services and video conferencing booths complete the offering, highlighting the building’s focus on a modern, smart way of working.

BEST IN CLASS

Blend Property Group, established in 2006, has been working to best-in-class standards since day one. The company has seen the ups and downs in the economy and property industry, and has successfully navigated each situation.

Perhaps one of the company’s most notable projects, prior to its work in Rosebank, is the Harrington in Cape Town. Just to the east of the city’s CBD, the 11,000m² building is a mixed-use space, home to flexible office space and secure underground parking. Completed in 2017, the project took a similar path to The Bank, revitalising an existing structure and bringing it into the modern world while at the same time boosting the local community.

Blend’s expertise is demonstrated across its rich portfolio. “We are a privately held commercial property fund,” says Corbishley. “60% of our portfolio is offices and the balance is a mix of industrial and hospitality assets. We tend to trade a lot and we have five-year investment terms on most of our assets.

“We try to buy well; rework the asset – develop it, extend it, repurpose it, put in new tenants, get the rentals up, stabilise it, and then move to the next project.”

Currently, the company’s gross asset base is around R2.2 billion across a gross lettable area of around 200,000 m².

But, even for a business like Blend with many years experience and enviable industry knowledge, work has not been easy. The commercial property market was under pressure for many years prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks in part to the continued lacklustre performance of the South African economy. Retailers are now reimagining their physical premises – with digital commerce and cost as a first thought; office space occupancy is being overhauled as businesses adapt to new working patterns and trust employees to work from home; and property owners are looking at how they can secure their yields without scaring investors and tenants.

Interestingly, in April, South Africa’s real estate investment trust (Reit) or listed property sector became the top performing asset class on the JSE. This bounce back is welcome after a very difficult 2020 for the industry. Most point to the lifting of harsh restrictions and resultant economic improvement as key drivers of growth. If the country can avoid further Covid-19-related waves, harsh lockdowns, and manages to improve its vaccine rollout, there is confidence that the listed property sector can strengthen further. Property is still a haven for investors and especially those who know what they want and which partners will help them achieve it.

Blend brings property management and corporate real estate services to the market, and the key selling point across these offerings is the ability to allow clients to focus on their own core business.

In the future, the company is investigating new mixed-use projects, including two exciting prospects in Gauteng, and is bullish about where its ambitions can be taken.

With most talking about the pandemic in the past tense, Blend – as a fully integrated property business – will use The Bank as a prominent part of its marketing moving forward and will look to continue doing what it does best – what it has done for the past 15 years, achieving phenomenal results with its portfolio.

The powerful New York art deco-style design of The Bank now fits seamlessly into the Rosebank skyline, bolstering the appeal of the area and proving what is possible with the right approach.