The Carlton Centre is a 50 story skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At, it is the second tallest building in Africa after The Leonardo and the tallest office building. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are in diameter and extend down to the bedrock, below street level. The building houses both offices and shops, and has over 46 per cent of the floor area below ground level. The Carlton Centre is linked to the Carlton Hotel by a below-ground shopping centre with over 180 shops.
History
Design and Construction
The Carlton Centre was designed by the US architectural firmSkidmore, Owings and Merrill. Anglo American Properties began construction in the late 1960s by demolishing the old Carlton Hotel and the closing roads to form a city superblock. Excavations for the Carlton began in January 1967, and took two years to complete. Although occupation of the Centre began in 1971, construction was not finally completed until 1974. The building officially opened in 1973 at a total cost of over R88 million. The design of the tower is very similar to that of One Seneca Tower in Buffalo, New York, completed in 1973.
Utilisation
The building is the head office of transport parastatalTransnet, who purchased it in 1999 from Anglo American Properties. In June 2007, then Transnet group chief executiveMaria Ramos revealed the company's intention to offer the building for sale. The Carlton Centre has served as Transnet's headquarters since 2000, after the parastatal purchased it for R33 million from Anglo American Properties. The disposal of the property forms part of Transnet's restructuring program which includes the disposal of non-core assets. Due to the economic downturn that began in 2008, the parastatal announced it would not seek a buyer until markets recovered. Although Transnet has given no indication of the price, the replacement cost of the building has been estimated at R1.5 billion. The centre, after being almost empty, has 93 percent occupancy of its office space and retail occupancy of 65 percent. Pick 'n Pay plans to take 3 000square metres in the centre and the South African Revenue Service has moved from Rissik Street to its premises of 5 000 square metres in the centre. While there have been proposals to reinstate the Carlton Hotel at some stage, no official announcements to this end have been made.
Other information
The 50th and topmost floor of the Carlton Centre was called the Carlton Panorama and is known colloquially as the "Top of Africa". Once the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, the Carlton Centre opened with the 5-star and 30-story Carlton Hotel taking up most of the floor space of the complex. The hotel was popular among the rich and famous, hosting many famous guests over the years. Urban decay in the inner city during the 1990s affected the hotel, which ceased operations in 1998 after nearly 25 years of operation.
