Pioneer of mixed-use precincts

Before “mixed-use” became a real estate buzzword, before the 15-minute city entered policy debates, the idea of living, working, shopping, conferencing and socialising in one place felt almost reckless in South Africa.

This was a country that planned in silos. Suburbs with homes over here, offices there, retail somewhere else entirely. Then Century City arrived, with an excellent location just outside the Cape Town CBD – and broke the rulebook.

Conceived in the mid-1990s, when the appetite for large-scale, privately-led urban precincts was close to zero, Century City was a maverick move. Capital-intensive, infrastructure-heavy, and dependent on patience rather than quick returns, it was widely seen as too ambitious for the local market.

What sets Century City apart is not only that it pioneered the mixed-use precinct locally, but that it survived long enough to refine the model, absorb its early missteps and prove that integrated development can work in South Africa.

The original ambition was bold: a city within a city, stitched together by canals, offices, retail, leisure, residential stock and eventually, hospitality. But mixed-use does not succeed on intent alone. It requires timing, sequencing and scale. Offices need retail. Retail needs footfall. Footfall needs residents. Residents need safety, services and convenience.

Century City took years to reach that tipping point.

The opening of Canal Walk shopping centre between 1998 and 2000 anchored the precinct both economically and psychologically. With 408 stores, 17 cinemas and 8 000 parking bays, it shifted Century City from an interesting concept into a functional destination. Corporate tenants, conference facilities, hotels and residential blocks all soon followed.

For a long time, Century City was somewhere you went to. You worked there, shopped there, attended a conference there and then you left. That has fundamentally changed.

The real evolution of Century City has been its shift from commercial node to lived-in suburb. Today, daily life unfolds on foot. Morning runs along the canals at one of the country’s largest park runs. School drop-offs at Curro. Coffee meetings that do not require a car. That is the difference between mixed-use on paper and mixed-use in practice.

Since taking ownership of the remaining undeveloped land in 2004, Rabie Property Group has reshaped the precinct through densification, increased residential stock, improved public spaces and more deliberate interaction among uses. The strategy was never about speed; rather, it was about intentional development and playing the long game.

Nowhere is this clearer than on the former Ratanga Junction site.

Once Africa’s first fully fledged theme park, Ratanga Junction opened in 1998 with 37 rides, four rollercoasters and two theatres. Many will remember the iconic cobra-shaped roller coaster. But as a seasonal attraction, the park struggled to sustain traction (and profitability). It closed in May 2018.

What followed is one of the most compelling examples of adaptive reuse in South Africa.

Reimagined as Ratanga Park, more than R120 million was invested into infrastructure alone. Not to maximise sellable bulk but to prioritise green space, canals, walkability and public access. 

Today, 8.5km of waterways weave through landscaped open space, residential buildings, offices, restaurants and leisure amenities. Kayaks glide where rollercoasters once stood. Office workers share lunch spots with joggers and dog walkers.

This is mixed-use done properly. The market response has been emphatic. Residential developments have seen strong sales velocity and rental demand.

When I spoke to Mariska Auret, the chief executive of Rabie, she explained that phase one of The Bridges, a 106-unit residential development launched in September, sold out in just 10 days, before the official campaign even began. 

A significant portion of the marketing budget was never used. Phase two has been accelerated due to demand, with the final phase planned for launch later in 2026.

Rental demand, she says, is relentless. Studios, one- and two-bedroom units are achieving gross yields of 9% to 11%. My own research shows capital growth of about  10% a year. The appeal is simple: walkable access to gyms, running routes, Woolworths, retail, waterways and the N1.

Once Ratanga Park’s residential development is complete, Century City will be home

to more than 5 000 residential units. What’s notable about Century City now is that it is no longer trying to prove itself. It has entered its maturity phase.

The conference economy is established. Cape Town has emerged as South Africa’s conference capital and the Century City Conference Centre (celebrating 10 years of operation this year) has expanded accordingly, hosting close to 2 000 delegates across multiple venues. 

Surrounding hotels continue to fuel short-term rental demand and investor interest. Office demand has not disappeared. It has recalibrated. There is a strong appetite for P-grade space and a limited supply. Campus-style offices, flexible workspaces and mixed-use commercial buildings outperform isolated office blocks. People want offices embedded in ecosystems.

Residential buyer profiles are also shifting. Semigrants and out-of-town investors are prioritising security, walkability and value retention over sheer square metreage. Century City now functions as a hedge against traffic congestion and service delivery uncertainty.

The final undeveloped parcel, the Mercantile Precinct along the N1, represents the closing chapter of the original master plan. With 132 000 square metres of bulk rights still available, it will determine how the precinct completes itself. The challenge now is not building more, but building wisely.

Ensuring density is matched with mobility, public space and community infrastructure. That is the true test of a mature mixed-use precinct. In a country where so many developments stall, fragment or collapse under short-term thinking, Century City stands as proof that long-horizon planning, private infrastructure investment and adaptive development can succeed.

It began as a pipe dream draped in scepticism. It evolved into a commercial hub, then a destination, then a suburb. Today, it resembles something like a city that understands how people actually want to live.

Century City did not just arrive early to the mixed-use conversation. It helped write the playbook and, in doing so, set a precedent that continues to shape how South Africa thinks about integrated urban development.