“In 2010 I bought 73 Juta Street. With its 1970s concrete brutalism façade by one of my favourite South African sculptors, Eduardo Villa, the building was an obvious choice to continue an art-themed design story.”

PROPERTY DETAILS

My vision was to repopulate it in a pretty unique way:

First, I decided to combine the existing parking lot with the 1st floor commercial office space through an amazing concrete cavity that we sawed open to create a new walkway. Occupant #1 – The Neighbourgoods Market with 4500 people on the opening day – a complete coup for the area!

Next was the ground floor retail space, which had been bricked up and used as conferencing facilities – turning its back on the public for 20 years. I opened it up entirely, exposing over 1000m/2 of glass fronted shops and restaurants, and for the first time, welcomed the public in!

I then sourced over 7000 m/2 of reclaimed parquet flooring and installed a herringbone pattern on every floor of the 13-story building to give it an old-school-new-age flavour. And, right on cue, incredible creative tenants signed up.

Finally, the rooftop venue – Thirteen – a throwback to an age of opulence and grandeur, was opened to huge fanfare.