Changing the Sandton skyline forever

Changing the Sandton skyline forever

South Africa’s leading private developer and operator of luxury hotels and resorts is about to open what is certainly one of the most talked about buildings for the last fifty years. At 234 metres, The Leonardo, located at 75 Maude Street, Sandton, is already the highest building in Africa. When the building opens to the public in late 2019, it will have changed the skyline of Africa’s richest square mile forever.

Legacy has also confirmed that an ultra-luxury hotel will open towards the end of 2020. The exact number of rooms and their sizes has not been disclosed, but judging by the world-class offering provided by Legacy at their nearby Michelangelo and Davinci hotels, the new property will be well worth the wait.

Having identified a gap in the market for a conference and events centre that can accommodate between 20-300 people, in the middle of Sandton, Legacy have built a state-of-the-art facility that will offer catering from the new Aurum restaurant, that is opening on the seventh floor, operated by wellknown restaurateur Paulo Santo.

The conference centre has been designed to meet a wide range of needs including corporate events, shareholders meetings, launch functions, awards ceremonies, gala dinners and even a live broadcast.

This facility will most certainly be an attraction for all the local corporates and companies in Sandton.

Legacy Hotels & Resorts, developers of The Leonardo, have released a fact sheet that provides insights into this unique mixed use property.

19 floors of apartments, six floors of offices, four floors of penthouses and an entertainment deck consisting of a pool area, with HD television screen, a bar, a spa, a gym and a 160 seater restaurant with what Legacy are calling a Wine Library, are some of the features that The Leonardo has to offer.

All of this will be surrounded by a bespoke art collection consisting of more than 50 pieces of art, crafted exclusively for The Leonardo. Each piece of art was conceptualised in consultation with curator Marcus Neustetter and then produced by local African artists. Legacy won’t say what the art collection is worth, but they have spent tens of millions of Rands to provide a platform for South African artists.

Sales of the 240 residential apartments in The Leonardo also appear to have gone very well, with only a handful left. In a difficult economic environment, the success of Legacy’s team to sell highendunits at the prices that have beenachieved, is validation of the quality of thedevelopment and the faith that buyershave in Legacy’s financial strength.

Bart Dorrestein, chairman of the LegacyGroup, said: “For everybody involved with the project, The Leonardo is a statementabout our belief in South Africa’s future.It tells the world that South Africancompanies are excited about what thefuture holds, and we are putting ourcapital to work to invest in that future.”

“You know that the Empire Statebuilding was built in 1930-31 in the middleof the Great Depression, and that buildingbecame a beacon of hope. It said we arehere to stay, and we are investing in ourfuture. And that is what The Leonardo is.”

“The other important thing abouta project like this is the jobs that arecreated. There are 2 000 people onsite at The Leonardo every day, and atthe end of the week they take home apay cheque. So for us, we are trying to help keep people employed, and that is something that should be embraced in these tough times,” he said.

Mr Dorrestein added: “When overseas investors come to South Africa, most of them stay in Sandton, so having an iconic building like The Leonardo will have an additional benefit for us as a business and hopefully for the country.”

“I think our approach is very different to many other organisations. When you undertake a project like this, there is always a lot of planning that goes into the project. But over and above the planning, we put thought into what we are doing.”

“Let me give you an example. Many new buildings have art in them. We have commissioned several emerging African artists to create unique art pieces for the building. The commissioning of the artists was done ages ago, so that the art becomes an all-inclusive feature of the building. Some of these pieces are very big. We didn’t say “Let’s put some art pieces into the building.” We asked: “How can we make the art a centre piece of the building and how can we give young aspiring artists an opportunity to be part of this journey?”

“I think you could describe Legacy as a lifestyle company. We create, build and manage projects and programmes that people can enjoy and from which they can benefit.”

“We have beautiful hotels and lodges in great locations where people can have a wonderful time and make memories. We have a fantastic rewards programme that has more than 900 000 members where we negotiate rewards for them with well-known retail and lifestyle partners. We always put our customers first. If we look after them, then everything else will fall into place,” he concluded.

FAST FACTS

The Leonardo is a mixeduse development.

The building will be just over 230 metres from Maude Street.

The building is some 122 000 m 2 in area

The building is being developed by Legacy Group and Nedbank.

Technologically-advanced building with amazing Wi- Fi connectivity throughout, including the apartments which are essentially designed for the Internet of Things. Residents can manage their apartment and access from their mobile phones.