Metro Centre refurbishment expected to take 10 more years – with one department’s rent costing R281m

The Johannesburg Metro Centre in Braamfontein. Picture: Michel Bega The Johannesburg municipality is preparing to be without a permanent home well into the next decade. Johannesburg’s Metro Centre was closed almost three years ago, and 15 departments under the city’s umbrella were in or have completed the final stages of moving to temporary offices.

The city’s departments have been scattered across six buildings; six departments are housed in one building in Newtown, with the remainder housed in buildings already occupied by city entities. Details of the moves and the progress of the Metro Centre refurbishment were shared last week with the Section 79 committee on economic development and seen byThe Citizen. Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) signed a 24-month lease agreement for 45 000 m2 of office space in April 2025.

That lease was extended by seven years and 11 months in December, with the city earlier clarifying that it was paying R95 per square metre for 31 176 m2 of office space used at the Newtown premises. At a total of R2.96 million per month, excluding services, the rental of the Newtown premises could cost at least R281 million, excluding parking and services, over the duration of the extended lease. Five of the six buildings used to house displaced Metro Centre staff are currently occupied by city entities, with amendments made to the existing nine-year leases.

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As of February, a transactions advisor (TA) for the public-private partnership of the Metro Centre refurbishment had been appointed. The work of the TA is being funded through a conditional grant from the National Treasury called the Programme and Project Preparation Support Grant (PPPSG) “The PPPSG supports the institutionalisation of efficient systems for programme and project preparation, as guided by the Division of Revenue Act,” the document reads.

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