The best way to explore the Inner City is with the experts. Walking and cycling tours offer fun and informative ways to really learn about the CBD. It is these experts that provide a sneak peak at the new Towers Main and Jewel City development.
Gerald Garner, JoburgPlaces
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“The refurbishment of Absa Towers, now known as Towers Main and the surrounding precinct has been under way for some time. Progress was halted during the initial Covid-19 lockdowns but I am happy to report that work is nearing completion. What once was an ugly and dreary brutalist-modernist office block has received a new lease of life. For over a year, curious guests on our walking tours asked Charlie Moyo and I what on earth was happening to that building? This they asked as the weirdest blue paneling in different shades have been added to the façade. While it indeed looked strange and puzzling from a distance, the blue panels marked the residential apartment levels.
Credit: Gerald Garner (JoburgPlaces)
Having now seen the inside, I can report that trendy apartments have been retrofitted to the top part of the building, while the bottom part has been refurbished into smart office space. Towers Main gives me hope for the inner-city. I advocate for large-scale inner-city housing development in my new book, ‘Johannesburg 2020 and Ahead’. Towers Main, in my opinion, gets it right perfectly. The apartment levels are cleverly designed with a lot of natural ventilation and the two-bedroom corner apartments are especially spectacular!
Downstairs a beautiful Flight coffee shop is opening with seating outside overlooking the piazza and street. Best of the building is the communal floors with a gym, shared office spaces and a huge outside balcony where residents can mingle. It is access to decent shared/semi-public spaces and incredible views that make Towers Main such an attractive place to live.
With the Gautrain bus stopping right next to the building, it is possible to commute to the north with ease while nearby Rea Vaya takes you all over the city too. Towers Main is a short walk away from Gandhi Square where Spar, Dischem and nearby Woolies make true inner-city living, without a car, completely viable. Down Fox Street from Absa is the new Jewel City and further on but still within walkable reach is Maboneng. I predict that Towers Main will become one of the most sought-after residential addresses in town (and no this is NOT an informercial and I am NOT being paid to write this!).
What inspired me most about our visit was the young lady we met in the lift. Dressed in a chef’s outfit we could not help to ask her where she worked. She told us she opened here own eatery on the corner of Commissioner and Delvers Street, a few blocks away just before lockdown. She lives in Towers Main and can easily walk between her apartment and her business. City living has that empowering knack of making it possible for entrepreneurs to thrive. She told us that despite Level 3 lockdown restrictions, she has done quite well this month and managed to generate enough turnover to pay her rent. Jozi, city of hustlers! We need many more young woman entrepreneurs like her to move to the city and to inspire us!
Towers Main is a development by Divercity (a joint venture between Ithemba and Atterbury among others). I am excited about this level of investment in Old Joburg. The future city awaits us – and it is becoming a reality right in front of our eyes!”
See more photos on the JoburgPlaces Facebook page HERE
Credit: Kennedy Tembo (Micro-Adventure Tours)
Kennedy Tembo from Micro-Adventure Tours does walking and cycling tours across the Inner City.
See more photos on the Micro-Adventure Tours Facebook page HERE
