City Park

City Park is an innovative mixed-use development offering modern living in a prime location. It comprises retail space, 1 002 parking bays, 68 apartments, 127 hotel rooms, 10 500 m² of premium grade offices and a co-working space. The development also features three dedicated levels of hotel facilities, including a ground floor restaurant, a 9th floor restaurant, a rooftop restaurant and a pool. The building occupies an entire city block bounded by Bree, Loop Streets, Longmarket and Church Streets in the most central part of Cape Town City Bowl.

Designed for Ingenuity Property Investments and Kasada Capital Management, this development reimagines a longstanding landmark in the city, surrounded by vibrant streets with a rich history. The building was originally constructed in 1969 as car park with an engineering building above. In 1983, it was converted and opened as City Park Hospital, becoming the oldest private hospital in Cape Town. In 2001, the hospital was renamed in tribute to South Africa’s most famous surgeon, Christiaan Barnard, who pioneered the heart transplant procedure. After providing medical care for over three decades, the facility was vacated in 2016 when the hospital was relocated to the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital to the Foreshore. Rabie Property Group and Ingenuity Property Investment acquired the building for R300 million in 2017, kick-starting the transformation that will invigorate the entire precinct.

dhk’s design response applies adaptive reuse and conservation principles to a large-scale project within a heritage protection overlay zone. The design preserves the building’s original massing and form, respecting the existing structure’s integrity while modernising its functionality by upgrading it to contemporary international design standards. This approach balances preservation with modernisation to enhance the building’s overall performance and utility. A title deed condition of development was to retain more than existing 960 parking bays. The new design will reconnect the building with its location in the city, while creating high quality space for the new operators.

The redesigned ground floor enhances the building’s street presence and public engagement. A new Bree Street Plaza in Longmarket and Bree Streets creates a double volume space for the public to interact with the building. This mitigates the monolithic, tiered “wedding cake” massing of the existing structure. The retained parking structure rises to eight storeys. A new façade that contrasts with the existing fabric has been introduced to minimise the functional parking podium appearance. Elements such as balustrades, screening and varied material choices have been incorporated into the façade to achieve this revision.

Additionally, the crown of the building, has been extended by introducing diagonal lines, using the existing structural framework of the second tier, to achieve a contemporary façade system. This approach will create a brand-new building that reads like a jewel sitting on top of a more solid form. The upper portion of the existing structure is incorporated to create a uniform façade that wraps around all four sides of the building. This has resulted in a clean, cohesive box-like appearance that extends to the diagonal crowns at the top.

• Client Ingenuity Property Investments and Kasada Capital Management
• Location Cape Town, South Africa
• Year 2024
• Status On site
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