Commercial hub plan gets boost

Rink Street focus for developments

A PLAN by the Mandela Bay Development Agency to upgrade Rink Street has received a boost, with a major architectural firm spearheading a move to one of the former commercial hubs of Port Elizabeth.

SVA International, formerly Stauch Vorster Architects, said it had shown its confidence in the MBDA’s vision by relocating its Eastern Cape headquarters from Walmer to a 503m² facility in Rink Street.

SVA branch manager Debbie Wintermeyer said it was important for the firm to demonstrate its commitment to the urban revitalisation taking place in the area.

“We recognised that sitting safely in the suburbs wasn’t going to help change the city,” Wintermeyer said.

She was part of the team that helped create the city’s development framework.

“Rink Street is the last of the strategic connection points that could quite quickly connect the individual success stories the MBDA has created,” Wintermeyer said.

Projects in the area had included the Donkin Reserve and Athenaeum building upgrades, which had acted as catalysts for private investments, such as the Donkin creative quarter, she said.

MBDA spokesman Luvuyo Bangazi said the Rink Street upgrade was a long-term project linked to the proposed revitalisation of the St George’s Park precinct.

He said some of the identified Rink Street upgrade elements would include improved pedestrian and cycle links and improved parking.

“There is also consideration for social housing in Rink Street,” Bangazi said.

All the projects would be subject to feasibility assessments, budgets, requests for proposals and the eventual appointment of consultants.

For every project implemented, the agency conducted annual economic impact assessments to gauge their catalytic effect on property values and business confidence.

These showed that 70% or more of developers would not have invested if the MBDA had not cleaned up the area, Bangazi said.

“Business confidence in these areas is rising and that can only be good for all of us and the city government in terms of an increased rates base, job creation and marketability of the city.”

Wintermeyer said Central had become a particularly important hub for the creative industries, with a number of advertising and PR agencies, photographers, art galleries and the like setting up shop there.

Meanwhile, institutions like NMMU’s music, art and design hub and the AFDA film school had positioned themselves in nearby Bird Street.