Proceedings began with establishing that the City of Cape Town is the responsible owner of the Skybridge that leads from the Prasa station deck to the Golden Acre. (Photo: City of Cape Town) 
Cape Town Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis owns the fact that he isn’t fully up to speed with the Golden Acre redevelopment.
“You wouldn’t believe how much construction is happening in the city,” he tells the convoy during a walk through and around the once-proud shopping centre and office building complex.
He and Alderman James Vos reminisced about how they used to visit the Golden Acre as children, and both lamented the current state of the place. Specifically, the Skybridge that links it to the station deck where the taxi rank is.
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The guided tour started at the Skybridge, with some confusion about who is responsible for its upkeep. As it turns out, it is the City of Cape Town’s domain. To that end it has stationed a security guard and cleared out all informal vendors.
Inner city economics
Lesego Majatladi, the director of Gracht Asset Managers, is leading the oversight of the integration of the redevelopment within the City (big C) initiatives and explains the vision of a “24 x 7 economy”.
“When the first residents move in, we will start extending the trading hours for some retailers, until eventually we reach round-the-clock activity.”
/file/attachments/orphans/AJP_8197_345362.jpg "Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis was quick with the wit, saying that the Wagenaer’s Reservoir ruins (preserved inside the Golden Acre) are what Joburg’s water infrastructure look like now. (Photo: City of Cape Town)")
If you haven’t been following, Growthpoint disposed of the brutalist grand old dame of the Cape Town CBD asset in 2025 for R781-million. The buyer? Putirex, a joint venture special purpose vehicle (SPV) spearheaded by veteran Cape Town property developers Gary Moore and Roelof Delport.
The SPV is organised as an en commandite partnership, which means there could be a legion of silent partners who do not need to be disclosed. Majatladi (and Gracht Asset Managers) and his deep City connections remains the public face of the developers.
The succession question
Beyond the purchase price, the redevelopment budget is substantial – involving plumbing retrofits for 450 rental units, façade upgrades, and a 6,000m² rooftop park. With a total investment of about R1.3-billion, this places the project among the largest direct foreign or local investments in the Geordin Hill-Lewis era.
When Daily Maverick asked whether the mayor would like this to form part of his legacy, he was quick to redirect the praise:
“I knew about this investment and was obviously very pleased that the Golden Acre, which we used to visit as kids, is being rejuvenated. This is not something that the City has specifically driven, this is the investors themselves who have spotted the opportunity and they are taking a bet on the future of Cape Town. They are saying that this is going to be a good place for them to invest. And that is exactly what we want – we want to create a city that people want to invest in.”
Hill-Lewis would neither confirm nor deny whether he would be vying for re-election at the polls later this year, but framing the question was worth a shot.
Retail rethink
One of the more surprising insights that Daily Maverick was privy to during the walking tour was the short- to medium-term ambitions the developers have for the parking garage (the one with the entrance at the bus terminus).
Mr D and Woolworths have tentatively committed to being the first partners in a pilot project to create a rest stop and ablutions for delivery bike drivers on one of the levels – with a view to incentivising electric vehicles with free entry.
/file/attachments/orphans/AJP_7956_841473.jpg "Alderman JP Smith made a good point about the informal traders outside and around the Golden Acre and how the cost of rental for vendors taking up shops inside may be suffocating the market. ‘Why would you pay rent for a store inside when it is cheaper to get a stand and sell outside?’ (Photo: City of Cape Town)")
This revelation was interrupted by the mayor stopping bus traffic (to be honest, he was oblivious to his security detail stopping the bus traffic) to preach to and call for the removal of a homeless group who had set up camp next to the parking entrance.
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Tie this fixture of the city landscape to discussions around the “unfair subsidy advantage” – the words of Alderman JP Smith – the informal vendors (read: fruit sellers) have over rent-paying retail tenants, and it seems the City is still seeing these gentrification projects as a means to solving structural issues.
The parking garage will be razed in the long-term, to make room for the second residential tower that will be taller than the current 110m one.
But at least there’s 450 new fully furnished rental units being added to the shallow CBD housing pool – starting at about R10,000 for a studio. Occupancy is from December 2026. DM