Cape Town’s stock of affordable housing units will be receiving another boost from Concor, following the company being awarded a centrally located land parcel less than a kilometre from the central train station.
The New Market Street site in Woodstock – currently leased as a parking lot – is one of several land parcels rezoned by the City of Cape Town and made available for the development of much-needed affordable housing. According to Mark Schonrock, Property Development Executive at Concor, the project will deliver at least 375 affordable rental housing units for qualifying residents who earn less than R22,000 a month. There will also be more than 400 residential units made available on the open market.
“Measuring just under a hectare in size, the site is remarkable for its prime location and scenic views,” says Schonrock. “Located right on the edge of the city centre, it is well serviced by multiple public transport systems – making it incredibly convenient to reach workplaces, retail areas and other key amenities for residents.”
An artist’s impression from New Market Street towards the market residential apartments and ground floor retail areas.
The development is in Cape Town’s PT2 Zone, he says, indicating that it provides easy access to the MyCiTi bus transit line – which has a station on the project’s doorstep – as well as the train line, Golden Arrow buses and taxi routes. It is walking distance from the central station, and a similar distance from the Woodstock station. Concor won the opportunity to develop the land parcel through its submissions to Request for Proposals (RFP) on an open tender basis issued by the City of Cape Town. This required a conceptual design with extensive input from architects, urban designers and consulting engineers working in partnership with Concor. “Our depth of project management and construction experience, combined with our proven capability and Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) status, positions us well to conceptualise, plan and execute complex projects like these,” he explains. Concor has been leading the development of the 22 hectare Conradie Park project near Pinelands since 2019, which is on track to deliver over 2,000 affordable living units by the middle of 2026. Schonrock highlights that the New Market Street development will be an exciting contribution to the broader urban upliftment process underway in this part of the city.
For instance, the areas of Woodstock and Salt River have seen considerable upgrading in recent years and have been targeted for expansions to the University of Cape Town’s academic and residential infrastructure. The City of Cape Town also recently announced plans to redevelop the iconic Good Hope Centre to enhance the area, so this will further improve the environment for the upcoming New Market Street housing project.
“Another outstanding feature of the New Market Street development will be its attractive views,” he says. “The east-west alignment of the property means that Table Mountain will be visible from one side, and the foreshore and Table Bay from the other.”
An artist’s impression towards Table Mountain of the New Market Street social and market residential apartments.
The mixed-use project will comprise two nine storey blocks up to a height limit of 25 metres. One of the buildings will be designated for affordable rental housing while the second block – accessed from the same central podium – will be for open market sectional title owners. The project will include some small-scale retail opportunities, although its proximity to the city gives residents ample access to the city’s well-developed retail network. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026, kicking off a build timeline of about 22 months. To achieve this, Schonrock says Concor will continue its close collaboration with the relevant departments in local, provincial and national government as well as its professional partners in the private sector.
“As an established construction and development player in South Africa with a solid reputation in the sector, we are proud to partner again with the City of Cape Town in its forward-thinking land release programme to drive more affordable housing,” he says.
The City of Cape Town has over 6,500 social housing units at various stages of the planning pipeline, across 50 well-located parcels of land. It is also encouraging national government to make its unused land in the city available for this programme.
