R1.8bn Jewel City changes face of Joburg

The R1.8 billion Jewel City development in the vibrant Maboneng district opens on 24 September, and it will change the face of Johannesburg inner city with its design.

The new neighbourhood provides for living, working, and playing – which was made possible by Divercity property investment, together with principal shareholders and stakeholders, such as Atterbury Property, Ithemba Property and Talis Property Fund, RMH Property and Nedbank Property Partners.

Atterbury Development manager Derrick Pautz said there were more than 1 000 units available for residents, a Curro High School, a soccer pitch, and a rooftop with a braai area.

He said residents would have the luxury of shopping at Shoprite, Clicks, Roots butchery, Pep and many more, as this was included in the development.

“Five of the building blocks were refurbished, while the sixth building was converted into a residential area with retail on the ground floor of every building and a large commercial office building,” said Pautz.

“One of our priorities was the security of the residents and the public. We have an intense security system around the precinct looking at every road with monitors on-site and external with armed response. The Joburg metropolitan police department is also linked to our security system.”

Pautz said visible security officers were on the ground to monitor the safety of those who visited the precinct and the street vendors in the neighbourhood.

“Phase one of Jewel City is complete and we will move to phase two, which would include a hospital, university and more office space,” said Pautz.

“We would like to encourage other developers to see the potential the CBD has and join us in uplifting and upgrading it to make it a safe place for people to live and work.”

Street vendor at the precinct Tshepo Maboe said he was happy to be part of the precinct and hoped the rest of CBD would be cleaned up in this way.

“I am an employee at Craving Caddy, which sells coffee from a mobile truck. The opportunity was presented to us to sell our coffee at Jewel City and we grabbed it with both hands,” Maboe said.

“We are hoping to have our container ready by the end of this month to grow our business. The precinct is beautiful and adds to the atmosphere in Maboneng.”