The Keys to Florida Road
You can really feel it in your feet. That pumping I’m alive! energy not found elsewhere in Durban. No matter your age or stage, Florida Roads turbo-charged brand of adrenalin is in high demand. Whether you can afford to buy it, rent it or borrow it for a while, when you feel it kick in with the first cappuccino, along comes that smug little moment when you’re so glad you’re a Durbanite and you’re right here, not there.
The Florida Road phenomenon. Strange really. It feels a little like, pick a road, any road, and make it famous. For this road is famous, with just as many restaurants as listed buildings in slightly over a one-kilometre stretch: 27 in total, which puts it very high on the Amafa/Heritage KZN list of buildings of national significance. Most of the remaining buildings are over 60 years old, which means you’re forbidden from turning your pizzeria into a Tuscan villa when the mood takes you. You need to ask first, and the answer thankfully is often: No.
There’s no doubt that the heritage feel of Florida Road is an integral part of the quasi-colonial, semi-bohemian lifestyle it’s engendered. As much as we want South Africa to be Proudly South African, we also like pockets of it to be something else. More cosmopolitan, more cafe society. Dina Soukop of Pam Golding Properties on the Berea, reflects on the potential for a more European lifestyle in areas like Florida Road, where living above your office or coffee shop is not only acceptable, but desirable. A little double-glazing and a whole lot more parking, and you have a great Live, Work, Play lifestyle.
Bottom line, privileged South Africans are very used to their larger properties bathed in peace and quiet, and they squeal loudly at noise. Florida Road is edge-to-edge noise: traffic and restaurants by day, pubs and clubs by night.
Once predominantly residential, Florida Road is now overwhelmingly commercial and professional. Estate agent assessments range widely between 60 to 40 and 80 to 20 per cent in favour of business premises. At a quick glance, there are only two single-storey houses holding out as residential properties, and according to Dina Soukop of PGP, there’s not another old double storey for sale. The last three-storey block in prime position went for, she winced, the bargain price of just over R5-million, with renovations estimated at approximately R2m. Investors are kicking themselves.
In addition to the listed buildings, Florida Road has two heritage landmarks, both declared national monuments in 1989. Hollis House (complete with stables) was built by and for building contractor Jack Hollis, who arrived in Durban in the late 19th century from Australia. He was awarded the contract to build the City Hall in 1905, and his home has many details similar to the City Hall. Amusingly, the City Hall cherubs are reputed to be based on Jack’s young sons, Jack and George (who was mayor of Durban from 1976 to 1980. In his book Facts about Durban, Alan Jackson says: If the story is true, he would have been the first mayor anywhere to take office in a city hall adorned with nude representations of himself. Hollis was also the founder of Clairwood Racecourse in 1921. Hollis House became the home of the Natal Teachers Society, and it was this group who restored and preserved the house that Jack built. Today, appropriately, this gracious building houses the most sophisticated restaurant on the road: Society
The second landmark at 303 and 309, are two Edwardian villas previously three but one was demolished to make way for apartments at what later became known as Cottam Grove, a retirement home. The drawings for both private houses are dated 1900 but, after the Second World War, they were converted into a private hotel, the Dorchester. What else?
Zoning in Florida Road remains the proverbial minefield, and some businesses receive their regular wrap-over-the-knuckle letter from the authorities, with a waning degree of tedium. But loud drum roll according to the Town Planning Department: Something significant is in the pipeline for Florida Road, but theyre not telling until the residents have been given their say, and the council has approved it. Frustrating, but fair enough.
Six or seven years ago attorney Steve du Toit was a councillor for the area, sat on the city’s town planning board, and ran his practice from a restored house in the heart of Florida Road. His passion for Florida Road was professional, personal and for the common good. He believed the spark which ignited Florida Road had been The Keg. It put the road on the map. It was the first pub-cum-eating house, and it drew people in their droves. Then next step sitting on their bar stools, the prospectors, developers and entrepreneurs started looking at the surrounding buildings, visualizing restaurants and other possibilities. Hey presto!
Interestingly, Steve has been adamant about the importance of retaining and consulting with residents in Florida Road. Although they are understandably the ones with loud gripes about the issues which always surround mixed-use living, he saw their presence as a vital factor in the mix.
Inevitably, the private money needed to put the plan together became a major stumbling block, and the project stalled. Around the same time, a charming rumour circulated that Florida Road would be closed to traffic, laid with cobblestones, and apparently true a Portuguese lady had offered to donate a tram from Portugal to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the sighting of Natal. But Florida Road was, ironically, a feeder road so that, too, wasn’t destined to happen.
Looking at the charmingly rural postcards of early Florida Road, it takes a substantial leap of imagination to visualize the peace which reigned on this wide avenue of trees, a peace broken only by the sound of horse-drawn trams pulling up the hill past gracious homes in spacious gardens. Constructed in 1890, Florida Road cost the Durban Corporation 3 132 pounds, 11 shillings and eight pence (the equivalent today of R41 305) and that included hiring carts, extra work for widening the road and turfing on both sides. Two years later, Florida Road laid claim to the first municipal tramline in South Africa first used on 12 September 1892 with horses still providing the motive power.
At the turn of the century, horses played a significant role in the transport system, and there were several racing stables in Durban. In her book, Dear Old Durban, Yvonne Miller (together with Barbara Stone), describes the stables below Holden’s store (now Holden’s Spar) near her childhood home. We often saw horses from this stable being led down to the Beach for a bathe. They were taken to the sands near the Umgeni River where they were made to paddle in the surf. The cold sea water was supposed to strengthen their legs.
Steve struck a deal with Town Planning, who were open to workable solutions. He wooed them: Florida Road is a special street with a unique charm, irreplaceable architecture, so like it or not it’s going to need special handling. If some kind of commercial development is refused, you’re going to have people in these dilapidated properties doing nothing to preserve them because they have no commercial value. Steve proposed that, rather than process applications piecemeal, there’d be an overall plan to create a special zone, then appoint a committee for this area. If somebody wants to convert his house into an office or restaurant, he approaches the committee. We look at it within the overall scheme, and say yes or no. Ultimately the final authority would always rest with Town Planning, but the application would be submitted with or without our rubber stamp.
Today, you’d struggle to park a horse. Or anything for that matter, for the traffic congestion and lack of parking nightmarish at peak times has produced some memorable road-rage incidents. Picture a restaurant which seats 60, next door to a restaurant which seats 60, next door to a with no off-street parking. Now squeeze a young club between them, and you have tripled-parked parents, too. Colourful, yes; alive, yes; peaceful, oh no. But then again, who comes to Florida Road for peace? Stay at home if you want that.
When it comes to property, Florida Road is hot. Very. Particularly commercial space, where size, shape and ambiance varies from converted streetside garages, to first-floor rooms and decks, to the top storey of an entire Victorian/ Edwardian cottage or mansion. Rental prices range from R90m2 to R180m2.
In the main, the upper reaches towards Mitchell Park are prime residential (quieter) the rest commercial (busier). Dina Soukop of Pam Golding Properties Berea branch reminisces: About seven or eight years ago, you could buy a commercial site for significantly under a million; today, there’s nothing under five (and nothing for sale anyway).
For residential, the ads for accommodation in Florida Road estimated at only around 80 to 100 units max show a shift from very desirable to within walking distance, and that’s not simply because of a shortage of stock. It’s simply too noisy. Now buyers want to be a quick walk from Florida Road, but not live on it. Having said that, Monet Viviers-Bottomley of Hunters says, There are still those buyers who are fully aware of the street vibe, and embrace the culture with all its pros and cons.
What about residential prices? As with most upmarket areas, says Monet, landlords and vendors are overpricing by up to 30 per cent. But like most areas, they too are coming to terms with a more realistically priced market. Berdine Lang of Sotheby’s International Realty, Berea, estimates you’ll pay anything from R1.2m to R1.8m for a two- to three-bedroomed apartment of around 100m2. Dina Soukop of PGP says their books currently show landlords commanding R3 500 rent for a two-bed flat, R5 500 for a three-bed duplex.
Florida Road wraps up everything from five-star hospitality at the luxury likes of Quarters and The Benjamin, to kitchenware and clothing, art and auctions, hair and more hair six salons at last count. For the clubbers, there’s gay and garish, smooth and sedate, loud and lewd. When it comes to eateries, there’s barely a country or cuisine not represented. From franchise take-away outlets to fine dining, Thai to French, Italian to African and you can do jeans and takkies, or diamonds and tiaras.
Long-standing eateries such as Mo’s, Bistro 136 or Christina Martin’s may have fresh faces at the helm, but in Florida Road, the killer competition ensures you adapt or die. No second chances here.
Sitting pretty on an elevated deck, with a companionable laptop and Buondi cappuccino, watching this new world go by, it’s easy to feel the feeling.
Forget our bush, berg and beach mantra, let’s give them a glimpse of the future of Durban.
http://www.thepropertymag.co.za/pages/452774491/articles/2006/August/NW-Florida-Road.asp.
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