Real estate investment trust Emira Property Fund says it has received increased enquiries for office space in Cape Town and Durban – welcome news in markets that have suffered from rising vacancies in the wake of corporate downsizing and restructuring in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Emira COO Ulana van Biljon says there has been increased demand for, and uptake of, office space by business process outsourcing (BPO) call centres in both the Cape Town and Durban markets recently.

Emira has recently concluded a deal with CCI South Africa, the largest international contact centre in South Africa, for just over 4 300 m² of office space at Newlands Terraces, in Cape Town.

Newlands is a mixed-use suburb situated at the foot of Table Mountain. It is well known for the Newlands Rugby and Cricket Grounds, as well as Newlands Brewery.

Emira reports that the location is ideal for CCI, which was looking for a large standalone office building in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.

Newlands Terraces is a multi-storey office building located adjacent to the Newlands Rugby Stadium, with views over the suburb of Newlands and with the backdrop of Table Mountain from Devil’s Peak to Silvermine.

As of March 1, CCI will lease 4 333.47 m² out of a total of 4 531 m² available and will take over the remaining area once existing tenants’ leases expire.

CCI will be using the premises as a BPO centre for an American airline and plans to provide a number of workplace facilities for its employees.

Emira will spend about R10-million on renovating the building for CCI, including the upgrade and adaptation of the air conditioning to meet the client’s requirements.

“CCI is increasing its presence in the Western Cape due to the more stable economic environment in the Cape Town metropole. They are among several such businesses that have expressed growing interest in this market,” says Van Biljon.

“The finalisation of this lease agreement secures a stable income stream with a multi-national tenant for at least the next five years, despite the fact that there have been some concerns about the now redundant Newlands Rugby Stadium neighbouring Newlands Terraces,” she notes.

“The deal required a focused approach to demonstrate to CCI that the building could work for them and their clients. The Emira team and the broker went the extra mile to create mock-up spaces and visuals that showed what could be done with the space,” says Van Biljon.