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Bright Lights, Big City by Joseph Talotta

Sunday Times Lifestyle Published 15 July 2007

As the Alexander Theatre reopens its doors this week, Josef Talotta talks to Adam Levy, the man behind Braamfontein’s facelift.

Johannesburg property developer Adam Levy cuts a sartorial path through the mean streets of Braamfontein. Actually, he’d be the first to point out that they’re not that mean — and he should know, he walks them daily, having bought a substantial number of buildings in the district.

Indeed, looking around Braamies, one sees spotless pavements lined with upgraded streetlights and newly planted indigenous trees. A mix of students, office workers and working class heroes strut their stuff on their way to meetings, affairs, rehearsals and drinks.

Braamfontein has a decidedly urban flavour . Still, new lighting and pavements aside, the area has an ’80s timewarp feel. Its street-level shops are more KFC than Body Shop . But things will change, if Adam Levy gets his way .

On many levels, Braamfontein is a mini-me version of Johannesburg, Africa’s great metropolis. Joburg’s power dots — or attractions — are spread out. The zoo is here, its art gallery there. Its amusement park is down south; its primary shopping pulse point is up north. Some of its dots, like Sandton City, are world class. Others (like the Carlton Centre’s view deck) are dithering along in spite of themselves.

Joburg has never been known to connect its dots; its business, residential and tourism infrastructures are disjointed . The dots are there, but they work in isolation, it’s up to the resident and visitor to navigate the physical and mental landscapes in between.

Likewise, Braamfontein features several power dots already in place, perched for take-off. A number of big-ticket names have set up camp in the district, among them Arnold Tanzer’s and Rudie Stoop’s high-society catering firm Food On The Move.

“Braamfontein is ring- fenced from the inner city. It’s fairly well contained and is home to six or seven of South Africa’s largest corporations; Constitution Hill, a medical precinct, Wits University and three theatres — all in a relatively small area, notes Levy.

With an eye on the future, Levy is out to create — and connect — even more Braamfontein power dots. Yes, he’s a businessman, but he’s also an urbanist who is driven by a near-compulsive passion — helping build the kind of city in which he wants to live.

“Joburg’s great. It’s a uniquely South African city, and uniquely African. Cape Town’s like a little foothold of Europe at the bottom of the African continent. It has European sensibilities. I feel comfortable in a lot of places but I feel most at home here in Joburg. I want people to see my Joburg . It freaks me out that so many visitors to South Africa get on the first flight out of Joburg and think they’ve seen the country.”

If Levy has his way, residents and visitors will have a lot more to see, especially in Braamfontein. His first (public) power dot was the redevelopment of 155 Smit Street, an eight-storey residential building overlooking Nelson Mandela Bridge, and in which he’s developing a double- storey penthouse for himself.

The building is also home to some of Joburg’s most forward-thinking cultural mavens, including auctioneer Russell Kaplan and US- born gallerist Michael Obert.

Says Levy: “155 will never be replicated. In the beginning, I almost had to coerce people to buy in it. The people who bought there certainly get it — they’re global, well- travelled and aesthetic types.

Next up was the City Bakery building, across the street from 155. “City Bakery is not a franchise. When I approached heritage councils I was told, although it was 95 years old, it didn’t have any historical merit and that I could tear it down.

 

“Once I started doing some research I found that the building originally operated as a bakery, so it’s come full circle over a century. I put in old sash windows from an old Cape school that was being torn down.”

Levy has also bought and refurbished the 550-seat Alexander Theatre on Stiemens Street. It is reopening on Tuesday with a production of the smash Broadway rock musical Rent.

The theme of the Alexander’s reopening play, which follows the lives of a group of Bohemians in New York’s East Village, and is loosely based on Puccini’s La Bohème, is fitting. The irony is not lost on Levy. “Braamfontein today is not dissimilar to where New York’s East Village was 10 years ago, when Rent first opened.

“My greatest passion is great architecture,” says Levy while giving a tour of the theatre and pointing out its architectural details. “If you look at the design of the Alexander, you’ll see lots of wood used in the seats and walls ... very Scandinavian and very much in vogue at the time of its opening [in 1951].

“Joburg has so much potential that’s just not happening at the moment. There are lots of little seeds of things happening, but I want a boom, a frenzy. That’s what Joburg is in my mind,” he says.

As a quintessential Joburger, Levy draws far more excitement from tomorrow than he does from today.

“A place like Braamfontein should be driven by young, creative people. They’re the people who turn cities . They’re not looking for shopping-mall excess; they look beyond the less-than-perfect and are able to see the bigger picture.

“It’s funny, the two words that always pop up when people first see my apartment is ‘totally inspired’. I love that. It somehow helps people step out of their suburban comfort
zones and see the world — and Johannesburg — through new eyes.”

Next up? Creating yet more power dots in Braamfontein, but plans are still hush-hush.

“My vision is my life, and my life is my vision,” he philosophises, underscored by a slight smile. “I mean, I am Braamfontein and Braamfontein is me. We’re connected, if that makes sense? So there’s a very real sense of purpose to my work and my thinking.”

Levy owns a number of buildings in the budding district, so the future’s wide open. Watch this space. “If you’re truly passionate about something,” he says, “anything can be achieved.”

· Rent opens on July 17 at the Alexander Theatre, 36 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein (secure parking available in Liberty Life’s garage). Book at Computicket.