Tenant shareholding development launched in Lanseria’s Corporate Estate

Heartwood Properties latest tenant shareholding development is a custom-designed building situated in Lanseria Corporate Estate. Built for electrical furniture company, Design 4, the model aims to partner with a client who wishes to own their premises but can’t afford the initial capital outlay. In return for signing a 10 year lease on the property, Design 4 has received a 20% shareholding.

Set in a green industrial park that promotes environmental sensitivity above all else, the new office space has been designed with nature in mind. The building has unobstructed views with a partly enclosed balcony from the top floor of the building onto the end of the Lanseria Airport runway. It also boasts a courtyard garden – unusual for an industrial building. It also uses recycled water to irrigate the extensive landscaping, and utilises numerous other green elements.

According to Design 4’s Graham Chick, what appealed to the company about this kind of business model was that it allows Design 4 to be a part owner in the building over time. Added to this, having a professional and expert commercial property developer involved took the pressure off them in terms of implementation.

The company were very involved in the design phase and loved the fact that they got to choose many of the design elements, allowing them to put their personal stamp on their workspace, according to Chick. “It was vital that we got the layout right from the outset. The building has been designed in such a way that every department has line of sight to every other department which makes us all feel very connected. The end result is a unique building that is ideally suited to our particular needs,” he reports.

Chick’s brief to Heartwood was to create a functional yet attractive workspace given that he is a firm believer in the idea that an employee who works in beautiful surroundings and in a properly equipped workspace not only feels appreciated, but will deliver more than what is expected of them.

“The benefit of this type of development model is that it avoids the customer having to incur all the building costs from the outset,” says Chick, adding that he would highly recommend this business model to other business owners.

Heartwood has to date successfully completed a number of these kind of tenant shareholding developments. The model has been tried and tested with both The Media Connection building and The Business Centre buildings in Johannesburg and created long term property partners.