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Ponte's roller-coaster ride smooths out

Photo: The central core of the Ponte

Built in 1975 as a huge hollow cylinder, Ponte had always been a furnished rental block, with 470 flats. Soaring to 173 metres, with 54 floors and the best views in town, it's an integral part of Joburg's skyline. The building was designed by Manfred Hermer, the same architect responsible for the Johannesburg Theatre and the Andre Hugenet in Hillbrow, and it was even used as a setting for the book Stadt des Goldes by German writer Norman Ohler.
It opened as one of the city's most desirable places to live, but by the late 1980s it had become a haven for criminals and drug lords. Such was its reputation that in 1998 a proposal - soon rejected - that it be turned into a prison, was aired. In 2001, its act was cleaned up and a new security system chased out the criminals.

Then along came enthusiastic developers Nour Ayyoub and David Selvan, who said they wanted to return Ponte to its former glory as an iconic building. They said they were putting R100 million into the revamp and ... and they began selling flats from R400 000 to R938 000, or R12 000 a square metre.
Potential owners were offered one of six different styles of finish - glam rock; future slick; Moroccan delight; global fusion; Zen-like; and old money. And the upper-middle class came rushing in to buy. On the first showday, there was reportedly an over 80 percent sell.
The developers also approached Woolworths and Spar to take up space on the lower levels. There was to be a restaurant, a coffee shop, a DVD shop, spa and gym, a large entrance piazza, a children's playground and even a climbing wall in the inside of the hollow tower ...

It was a grandiose dream. But in 2008, the Mail and Guardian reported: “Today Ponte sits half-empty, a construction zone without construction, mired in would-be lawsuits and promises of what was to be. From unpaid contractors and suppliers to wronged ex-employees and unhappy investors, Ponte is, once again, causing a stir.”
It turns out Selvan and Ayyoub never, in fact, purchased the building for the reported R110- to R112-million from the East London-based Kempston Group, and East London-based outfit, which started off as a vehicle rental company.
"There was a lot written in the press, a lot was said and done about the deal that wasn't necessarily true," said Jason Kruger, Kempston Group spokesman, at the time. "What I can confirm at this stage is that the deal between Ayyoub and the consortium has been cancelled and we are looking at alternatives."
He said that the deal allowed the developers to refurbish the building "at their sole risk" before taking ownership. The strategy for payment appears to be based, at least partially, on investors' deposits and the accompanying bank sureties on pre-sold units. Apparently payment on the building was due in June 2008 and, in the end, Selvan and Ayyoub couldn't shore up the funds.

That’s all history now. Kruger says that the present state of the Ponte is this: the company Vincemus Investments, who own the building and are part of the Kempston Group, are busy completing refurbishing to the building. Phase one of the refurbishing should be complete by April this year, and completed flats are already available for rental.
This time, the developers have a more modest goal. “The finishes will be good, but not like those Selvan and Ayyoub envisaged,” says Kruger. “We’re targeting the middle class, people like government employees who work in the CBD.”

A visit to the immense Ponte revealed that it is definitely undergoing a metamorphosis. Contractors are fixing flats apace, workers are busy wherever you look; potential tenants crowd the reception area, and security at the access points is tight. Ponte Manager Jaap Breedt says the Kempston Group have been refurbishing the flats from the top of the building downwards, and have got down to the 11th floor already.
Contractor Quinton Oosthuizen says “there is a definite demand for flats. As soon as we fix a flat up, tenants move in.” Breedt says there are already 179 tenants, some of whom have been there for a decade.

It looks like this time the developers will get it right; soon, the Ponte building will be a functional space, lose its white elephant status, and become part of Joburg CBD’s rebirth.