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The University of the Witwatersrand will build a 341 million rand cultural precinct in Braamfontein, about $21 million, funded mainly by a donation of Sabvest Capital shares from Chris Seabrooke.
Wits announced the project on Tuesday, Sept. 29, five days after Seabrooke's family trust transferred 1.4 million shares to the Wits Foundation. The shares were worth 204.4 million rand at the price on the day of the transfer.
The university can sell them as it needs the money. Wits has the right to dispose of the donated stock through block trades or on the open market over the estimated five-year construction period, which gives it liquidity as the build progresses, and it will co-invest the balance of the capital cost itself.
The precinct goes on the south-eastern edge of the campus and is intended to draw the public into a part of Johannesburg's inner city that has struggled for years. It will link the university's existing arts, performance and heritage facilities rather than replacing them.
The first phase includes the Wits Art Museum, the Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, a digital arts building and an additional floor for the Wits School of Arts. A second phase brings together the music facilities, new exhibition and foyer space, fine arts facilities, the Wits Theatre Amphitheatre and a rooftop extension opening up the theatre complex. Restaurants, coffee shops and bookshops are planned throughout.
Seabrooke framed it around the city rather than the university. The arts have an extraordinary ability to bring people together and change the character of a place, he said, and the hope is that the precinct belongs not only to students, staff and academics but to Johannesburg, attracting people to Braamfontein and leaving a cultural legacy.
The university's vice chancellor, Zeblon Vilakazi, said Wits and Johannesburg have grown together for more than a century and their futures cannot be separated.
It sits inside an existing cluster. The Joburg Theatre, the Market Theatre, SciBono, the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Constitutional Court are all within reach of the site.
Seabrooke founded Sabvest in 1988 and still runs it as chief executive. The company carries a market value of 5.5 billion rand, and he has served on the boards of 27 companies listed on the Johannesburg exchange over his career.
The arts are not a late interest. He chaired the State Theatre of South Africa and was deputy chairman of the first board of the National Arts Council, and he took his MBA at Wits.
Giving the shares away cost him a slice of his own company. The Seabrooke Family Trust's economic interest in Sabvest falls to just under 39% from 42.6%, which places his net worth at about 2.1 billion rand, roughly $129 million. The trust keeps voting control through an unlisted share, so the donation reduces his economic stake without loosening his grip on the company.
Construction is expected to take five years.
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