The Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) is hoping to release a request for proposals (RFP) before the end of 2016 for the further development of the Constitution Hill precinct, on the border of Hillbrow and Braamfontein, in Johannesburg.

GGDA CEO Saki Zamxaka says various property development concepts have already been received following an earlier call for expressions of interest, issued in June, and that the GGDA is now eager to solicit firm bids.

GGDA, which is an agency of the Gauteng provincial government, owns the Constitution Hill Development Company (ConHill), together with the City of Johannesburg.

ConHill manages the landmark inner city property, which houses the Constitutional Court, and oversees the heritage, educational and tourism programmes associated with the site.

The area is strongly associated with the various political struggles that have shaped South Africa’s history, with the site’s Old Fort having been built under the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek in 1892. For many years, the fort functioned as a prison and numerous anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, were held within its uncomely walls.

Besides the court and the museum, ConHill also operates a variety of multipurpose venues, which are used for conferences and various other cultural or artistic events.

The property also incorporates office space for a number of strategically selected tenants, but Zamxaka believes that there is potential to expand the office space to house even more organisations active in the human-rights space, as well as various Chapter Nine institutions.

He says it is premature to place a value on the possible development, but reveals that the early indications suggest capital investments of between R500-million and R2-billion.

The RFP is likely to seek developers for additional office space, as well as for the establishment of commercial retail and/or residential real estate and possibly even a hotel, which could be developed at the site of an old nurses home heritage building.

The public–private initiative also still requires the endorsement of the Gauteng provincial government and the National Treasury. However, Zamxaka is optimistic that such authorisations will be forthcoming and that the tender could be released within the coming few months.

He is also hopeful that the tenders will be adjudicated ahead of the start of the Gauteng government’s 2017/18 fiscal year, which starts on April 1.