Crystal Towers includes a 180 room five star hotel, associated boutique restaurants and retailing, 90 luxury apartments and 7,000sq m of offices is being developed on a prime canal fronting site at Century City by the Rabie Property Group. It is the largest development to be undertaken at Century City since the Canal Walk shopping centre which was completed in 2000.The development, to be built on a landmark site on the Grand Canal across the water from Canal Walk shopping centre, also enjoys frontage onto Century Boulevard, the main thoroughfare of Century City.
The hotel will form part of Protea Hotel's exclusive African Pride collection of superior deluxe 5 star hotels. The largest South African luxury 5-star brand. African Pride luxury hotels, lodges and country houses include Melrose Arch Hotel in Johannesburg; Mount Grace Country House & Spa in the Magaliesburg; Pumba Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape; Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa in Sandton; Rosenhof Country House in Oudtshoorn and Tinga Private Game Lodge in the Kruger National Park.
The entire Crystal Towers development, which will include two tower blocks and a standalone office block, will be set over a two level podium comprising parking and canal fronting hotel banqueting facilities flowing out over the water.
The rest of the hotel will be housed in one of the nine storey towers offering spectacular sea and mountain views from the upper storeys.
Aimed primarily at the high end, short stay business traveller, the hotel will provide extensive conference and meeting rooms, a business centre, fine dining restaurants, swimming pools, a gym and a health spa.
A shopping mall offering boutique ancillary retailing with restaurants spilling out into the walkway will run through the spine of the development linking into the apartment, office and hotel components.
The second tower will include 2,000sq m of offices over two levels and seven storeys of luxury apartments ranging from studio to two bedroom penthouses. To be sold on a sectional title basis, the apartments are aimed at owner occupiers and longer stay business travellers with owners being able to opt to have their apartments serviced by the hotel.
The development, which is being financed by Nedbank, will form a focal point of Century City providing a pedestrian conduit and linking neighbouring office developments such as the Colosseum and The Forum to Canal Walk Shopping Centre and the new Virgin Active health club currently also under construction across Century Boulevard.
A pedestrian bridge will link the development to the Canal Walk side of the Grand Canal.
A further 5,000sq m of offices will be provided in a standalone building on the site.
Greg Deans, a director of Rabie Property Group, said they were currently negotiating with purchasers for both the office building and hotel.
The apartments, however, would be sold to individual investors on a sectional title basis.
Construction of the development has started with the hotel scheduled for completion in November 2009 in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. He said the apartment tower and office block were scheduled for completion in phases from February/March 2010.
Architect Paolo Viotti of Vivid Architects said the site bounded by the Grand Canal to its east and Century Boulevard to its south, was particularly strategic within the Century City context as it would play a critical role in allowing for a successful interface between all future new developments across Century Boulevard.
"The Century City urban planning concepts have always embraced and consolidated pedestrian connectivity and for this reason, the building needs to be a catalyst for this pedestrian flow."
To this end, he said, the high volume internal street would not only form a future bridge and retail link to Canal walk shopping centre but would also allow the architectural form of the building to express itself in two similar yet distinct towers that would accommodate the hotel on one side and the apartments to the other.
He said the architecture needed to respond equally to night time and daytime activities and usage.
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