Pretoria showgrounds to house new hotel, to grow metro rates base
“This will unlock and enhance revenue generating efforts as the development will be based on a turnover lease model.”
The Pretoria Showgrounds will “shed its jacket” as an events venue in a planned redevelopment that will turn it into a brand-new, world-class facility.
The Tshwane metro approved the plan to turn the Pretoria showgrounds in the CBD into a business hub incorporating a new hotel during a sitting last Thursday.
MMC for Corporate and Shared Services councillor Kingsley Wakelin said the metro undertook extensive feasibility studies to determine the best use for the non-functional property.
“A comprehensive precinct development plan has been developed which envisages a mixed-use commercial precinct comprising a hotel, conference facility, and residential, commercial and exhibition uses.”
Wakelin said the metro’s Group Property would now embark on an open and transparent competitive bidding process to invite proposals from interested parties who wish to partner with it in the development.
He said the partner will run the new development for 50 years.
“This will unlock and enhance revenue generating efforts as the development will be based on a turnover lease model.”
He said the redevelopment was integral to facilitating investment and rehabilitation of the inner-city.
Two years ago, the Tshwane metro reacquired the showgrounds following a protracted legal wrangle.
The property used to belong to Tshwane’s predecessor – the Pretoria Central Metropolitan substructure before it was transferred to TSHWABAC, then known as the Northern Transvaal Chamber of Industries – free of charge.
Around 2016, TSHWABAC’s financial status deteriorated.
As creditors pursued it, TSHWABAC sought to sell the property to pay off debt.
It approached the metro for consent to sell the property in 2017, but this was refused as TSHWABAC also owed the metro in unpaid rates and services at the time.
The metro then demanded that TSHWABAC hand the property back to them.
This was in line with the caveat in the title deed because it was no longer using it for the intended donation but wanted to use the property to pay off its creditors.
At the time, a spokesperson for the metro said some activities on the property were contrary to the donation stipulations, one of them being the church.
The property was home to the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG), the controversial church led by self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri, for several years.
In the past, the grounds also hosted the Pretoria Show, later the Tshwane Show, during spring.
The property is close to the Pilditch Stadium, which the metro recently refurbished to international standards to the tune of R34.6-million.
In 2021, metro mayor Randal Williams said the metro started reviewing its land use management and zoning classification scheme to ensure a more receptive environment for home-based small business operations.
“One of the most enduring ways to keep the city sustainable and financially viable is to grow the metro’s rates base as a primary source of income,” he said.
“As such, Group Property is preparing a basket of strategic land parcels for disposal through long-term lease agreements, based on a best-value-for-money proposition.”
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