The Eastern Cape Development Corporation, which owns the Mthatha Garden Court Hotel, has completed a comprehensive R74m facelift of the facility – its first refurbishment since its establishment in 1976.
The R63m improvements to the structure – which come with a four-star grading – were funded by the ECDC (as the landlord), while R11m on fixtures and fittings was funded by the Mthatha Hotel (the operating company).
The operating company, which leases and operates the Garden Court from ECDC, is 50.05% owned by Tsogo Sun and 49.95% is owned by the ECDC.
The upgrade, which commenced in May 2018, included improvements to the structure and the upgrade of 117 rooms, a restaurant, gym, conference centre, dining room and stormwater drainage.
The Garden Court now has four executive suites and two rooms have been converted to cater for people with disabilities.
The improvements also included compliance with regulatory issues such as the removal of asbestos components, as well as upgrades to systems and offices.
The Garden Court revamp is the first of several projects in the pipeline.
ECDC chief executive Ndzondelelo Dlulane said the refurbishment formed part of the ECDC’s property portfolio strategy of offloading non-core assets such as its standalone residential properties, in order to fund its core business.
“A decision was taken to use the proceeds from the sale of the standalone residential stock to refurbish and improve ECDC’s commercial and industrial properties.
“The strategy is starting to pay dividend as the Garden Court revamp is the first project funded by this strategy of selling off standalone residential properties.
“To date, the disposal of the ECDC properties, which gained momentum in 2014, has been used to improve our commercial and industrial properties,” said Dlulane.
“This Garden Court upgrade will improve the competitiveness of the hotel and the customer experience and the intention is to increase the flow of traffic to the facility.
“Seven local sub-contractors were used in the upgrades and 155 local people were employed over an eight-month period in the building phase, while 25 locals were employed in the demolition stage for four months,” he said.
Dlulane said the refurbishment had been on the cards since 2008 but it was stalled by financial constraints.
The sale of non-core assets gave rise to an opportunity to effect these plans.
“The Mthatha Garden Court project paves the way for a number of similar projects in the commercial and industrial property portfolio,” he said...