SOME 10 years and 200 holes later, it seems like the derelict and ghostly plant of Johannesburg's old gas works will breathe new life into this side of town.
The 14,8ha Egoli Gas site, which dates back to 1939, is to get a makeover that will see it become the city's latest got-to-get-there place, with lifestyle shopping, restaurants, loft apartments, a boutique hotel, offices and a parkland.
The site is a rectangle with two fingers jutting north and a third protruding from the southwestern edge. It is a neighbour of Atlas Studios and the Frost Avenue loft apartments. The popular 44 Stanley Avenue, with its restaurants and trendy shopping, is just around the corner.
There are three gasometers or tanks on site, an assortment of office buildings, and several tall plant buildings, presenting attractive profiles with chimneys, walkways and different roof levels. An open patch of ground on the eastern edge of the site contains a small stream running from south to north, through Milpark and eventually joining the Braamfontein Spruit.
Quintus Joubert, a director at Egoli Gas, says he has been working on the initiative for the past 10 years. "I am very, very excited by the project; we are getting close now."
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