The latest edition of The State of the Cape Town Central City Report, 2014 – A year in review, has been launched, and reflects an international trend that is seeing both businesses and people return to traditional downtowns.
The CCID’s latest investment report dovetails with global research recently published in by the UK government’s “Foresight Future of Cities Project” in its The Business of Cities report.
The UK report notes that businesses are attracted to the pool of possible employees and residents steadily returning to well-managed CBDs. Corresponding with this international trend, the CCID’s report not only provides evidence of the growing employee population as the residential population climbs, but also highlights the benefits of an increasingly improved public transport system being able to bring potential workers into the CBD from other areas.
Further indications in The State of Cape Town Central City Report that the CBD’s popularity is growing is revealed in three years of results from surveys conducted among its business, retail and residential components, as well as daytime and nighttime CBD user perception surveys.
The growth in the residential population (according to the national census, this has grown from 1 570 in 2001 to 5 286 in 2011, and is now estimated to be close to 6 000) is also reflected in the report, as are the many opportunities that still exist for businesses.
The chairperson of the CCID, Rob Kane, says: “We firmly believe that the next wave of development and indeed growth overall in the CBD will be towards accommodating increasing residential demands, from the need for more apartments – hopefully also including more affordable purchasing and rental opportunities – to the provision of retail and other facilities to service the needs of this growing population.”
The CCID’s last report, 2013 – A year in review, proved to be a vital tool for those considering investment into the Cape Town Central City, says Kane: “It also received extensive national and international recognition. On the national front, for instance, it was utilised by National Treasury’s Technical Assistance Unit in a fact-finding, investment promotion mission conducted to Europe. Internationally, the report was honoured with an award by the International Downtown Association in the category of Economic & Business Development for ‘developing successful marketing efforts and strategies that have recruited new businesses or improved retention efforts in a downtown.’
“We have no doubt the 2014 report will prove to be just as useful – by providing information to those looking to invest in the Cape Town CBD, and by giving assurance to those currently invested here that they have made a very wise economic decision.”
The CCID – the publisher of the report – is a public-private partnership with a mandate to enable the Cape Town CBD to be safe, clean, caring and open for business. Driving the last part of this mandate (“open for business”) aggressively, it strives to promote Cape Town’s Central City to maintain existing and attract new investment. Working together specifically with its partners, including the City of Cape Town, its working model is based on the concept of international business improvement districts (BIDs).
Features of the latest report include:
- Ongoing surveys conducted with the business, retail and residential sectors in the CBD, from which trendable, year-on-year data is now emerging across the three years of the publication’s existence.
- The results of new surveys conducted, this year including the nighttime economy and its potential, as well as the economic strength of the retail sector as a large-scale employer.
- Information on the value that respective industry sectors bring to the CBD, from the financial sector and the film & television industry to eventing and conferencing.
- A spotlight on the importance of the publishing sector to the CBD.
- A comprehensive investment map of all developments completed since the last report, as well as those currently in construction or planning phases.
The authors of The State of Cape Town Central City: 2014 – A year in review are the CCID’s senior researcher/writer, Andrew Fleming, and writer/editor Carola Koblitz, who is the CCID’s manager of communications as well as a respected local and international property journalist and editor of many years standing.
An e-book version is available on the CCID website. Hard copies can also be obtained via the CCID (email aziza@capetownccid.org) from Monday 16 March 2015 onwards.