Situated in the heart of Cape Town’s City Centre, just off Long Street, Uxolo on 4 Vredenberg Lane provides a unique combination of long-term rental and short-term leases in modern, design-led micro apartments.
The brainchild of Theo Kruger, director of Vredenberg Properties Ltd., Uxolo, which means ‘peace’ in Xhosa, has transformed the existing heritage building by maintaining the front façade when building eight new storeys to deliver everything city living encompasses.
The ground floor features retail space, reception, a lobby, and bicycle storage with the upper eight floors consisting of 32 studio apartments ranging in size from 24 to 30 square metres, and three one-bedroom loft units spanning two floors. There is a generator and heat pump room as well as a communal laundry area for residents.
“Uxolo is close to Kloof Street, and it is within walking distance of public transport and all modern amenities”, says Kruger. “Many of our residents either walk, cycle, or Uber to work. These units cater for a younger demographic that is all about a minimalist lifestyle”.
The location instantly drew Vredenberg Properties into investing in the property.
“Cape Town is transforming into a world-class city. In these apartments, we perfectly capture the ability for people to live more densely, maximising the space, while also contributing to a safe environment as people are here all hours of the day.”
While much of the interior of the existing building needed to be gutted to make way for the eight-storey expansion and new services, there was real value in the street façade with some of the internal stone walls dating back more than 100-years and it was important for Kruger to keep those elements and replace with the rebuild.
“Admittedly, both council and heritage approval took some time to receive, but we got through it and are now sitting with a very successful product. TUHF also provided invaluable support on the development finance side and was involved throughout the construction process to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible,” he adds.
TUHF provided hands-on support, especially when it came to the approval stage. It also appointed a project review consultant to work with the Vredenberg Properties team to get all documentation in place.
“As with many other sectors, the hard lockdown last year hit us really hard. At the time we had to part ways with the existing contractor and decided to take over the construction of the building ourselves and complete it. This provided us with an invaluable opportunity to diversify our skill set as it was quite a complicated build. We really learnt so much through this process and are very happy with the final product.”
Already 21 of the 35 available apartments have been transferred. Vredenberg Properties are holding back the remainder to sell at a later stage when the market strengthens with the units being rented in the meantime.
“This was our first project with TUHF, and it was a very positive experience. We will definitely work with them again in future,” he concludes.
Theo Kruger, director of Vredenberg Properties Ltd., and Khulasande Naku, TUHF Portfolio Manager
