Rich history: Golden Acre has always been a place of transition, between
train stations and taxis and between work and home. There are plans to
redevelop the tower and upgrade the retail component. Photo: Wikipedia
Cape Town has a knack for reinventing familiar buildings. Whether it’s heritage conversions or office-to-residential projects, I am obsessed with how the city transforms the narrative of concrete.
Recently, I tweeted about the sale of the iconic Golden Acre complex, which sparked a flood of memories in the comment section. Some remember buying their first pair of Dr Martens boots here, celebrating their birthday at Mike’s Kitchen, while others watched Karate Kid for the first time at the cinema.
Having walked through the building many times on my way to university and later, as a commercial property broker on the upper floors, trying to lease the large floor plates to call centres, I share the same nostalgic feelings many others have about the building.
Most Capetonians are familiar with the site but not many know the history behind the iconic building.
Long before the soft serves, Mac Munch burgers, bus queues and bargain shopping, the site served a different purpose.
During the initial construction of the Golden Acre, workers made a remarkable discovery. Before pouring concrete and erecting steel frameworks, they uncovered the remains of one of South Africa’s oldest Dutch structures.
The site sits on what was once the original coastline. Back in the day, the Foreshore suburb was completely submerged under the ocean. During excavation, remnants of a storage dam built in 1663 were discovered. The South African Museum stepped in to excavate and preserve the ruins, now known as the Golden Acre Ruins.
In the 1600s, Cape Town’s biggest challenge was water. When Jan van Riebeeck arrived in 1652, he built a dam to supply fresh water to ships and to support early agriculture. It quickly became clear that it was not enough, as they needed much more drinking water for locals and crews on visiting ships.
A few years later, the Commander of the Cape Colony, Zacharias Wagenaer, commissioned a far more ambitious structure. Built between the sea and the Fort, the dam was known as the New Bowl, or Wagener’s Tank. Stone and brick walls were constructed by masons, along with wooden sluice gates to control water flow.
It took two months to get the reservoir measuring 15m wide, 45m long and 1.5m deep, capable of holding up to 700 000 litres of drinking water from the Farshe River. A 1m-high wall surrounded it for safety and four flights of steps were added so sailors could draw water directly.
By 1671, Wouter Mostert had built a canal from the dam to the wharf, allowing ships to be supplied more efficiently. What now fuels food courts and foot traffic once sustained an entire port city.
Today, those dam remains are preserved inside the shopping centre itself behind glass, declared a National Monument and quietly existing alongside fast food counters and cellphone repair shops. Most people walk past them without realising what they are looking at.
The Golden Acre Mall, which is enclosed around the ruins, measures 33.590m2.
According to its website, 2.4 million customers walk through its doors monthly. The target market consists of 46.6% males and 53.4% females. The centre is home to more than 100 retailers, including Ackermans, Markham, Foschini, Sportscene, Totalsports, McDonald’s, Wimpy, KFC, Steers and Hungry Lion.
Fast forward to today and the Golden Acre is entering her next Golden Era. The complex sold last year for a whopping R781 million. The deal was complicated and slow. It took months to come to fruition. Once approved by the Competition Commission in February 2025, the Golden Acre shopping centre itself, as well as the building next door (11 Adderley Street), was sold.
The property spans 55 730m2 of retail and office space.
The new owner, Putirex (Pty) Ltd, is well down the road with plans to redevelop the 110m-high concrete tower into 414 residential units by 2027 and to upgrade the retail component. Around 300 of the units will be semi-serviced studios, and rentals will be around R10 000 per month. The remaining units will be one and two-bedroom units.
Construction kicked off in October last year and I welcome the conversion of this 24-storey commercial tower, as I feel that the demand for rental units in the area at an affordable rental rate is essential for this part of town. It looks like they will be pricing their units about 30% lower than most CBD rentals.
The building has 800 parking bays, which is a plus. Add to this that Adderley Street could do with some TLC — therefore, the upliftment of the assets on the strip can contribute positively to the road’s revival.
The new owner also has plans for a 6000m2 communal garden, co-working spaces, a clubhouse and much-needed structural upgrades.
A representative from Gracht Asset Managers, appointed by Putirex to oversee the redevelopment’s integration with existing retail spaces and city initiatives, says their target market is young professionals who will stay in the apartments after work.
Additionally, the development will offer significant transport savings, as many commuters in South Africa spend a large part of their income on public transport.
The building was originally designed by the architect Louis Karol for Sanlam and built in 1979. Love it or hate it, it dominates Adderley Street with a kind of unapologetic, rugged confidence.
There is something fitting about the Golden Acre entering another phase of reinvention. It has always been a place of transition, between train stations and between taxis and work
and home. As construction continues and plans unfold, I look forward to seeing the finished product and reviews from its new tenants.
Among the building rush, still remains the Golden Acre Ruins reminder. A reminder that Cape Town has always been a city built on adaptation, resourcefulness, and layers of history stacked neatly on top of one another.
Perhaps that is why the Golden Acre inspires such fierce nostalgia.
It is not beautiful in a postcard sense. It’s resilient and functional. Like the city itself, it has never stopped serving.
If you have ever paused to look at the ruins inside the centre, you have stood in a space that has been serving this city for more than 350 years. Not bad for a mall most of us only ever associated with a quick lunch and a long queue.
If you’ve got any memories connected to the Golden Acre, I would love to hear them. Email me: [email protected]