Property

136-year-old Cape Town hotel and shopping mall goes on sale for R50 million

Kirsten Minnaar • 29 September 2026

The historic Kings Hotel and The Decks retail space in Cape Town’s CBD, dating to 1890, is on the market for R50 million.

Located on Hout Street in the heart of the City Bowl, Kings Hotel has been listed for sale by both the Claremont Group and Chas Everitt, for R50 million.

The property occupies a heritage building constructed in 1890, which makes it one of the older commercial properties in Cape Town’s city centre.

The freehold property has a total erf size of 1,923 m² and is currently used as a boutique hotel and retail centre.

The Kings Hotel section has a gross lettable area of about 998 m², while The Decks retail section measures approximately 925 m².

It has 17 en-suite rooms, an on-site restaurant, and a dedicated conference centre with a private boardroom for corporate clients.

Other hotel facilities include a bar, live entertainment, chauffeur and shuttle services, as well as dry-cleaning and laundry services.

The building is fully air-conditioned and has security measures including a security gate, CCTV and a guard house. The property is being sold with its liquor licence.

The hotel is connected to The Decks, a ground-floor retail area that forms part of the property’s entrance.

The retail section has around 40 traders operating on month-to-month leases.

The Kings Hotel is situated at 33 Hout Street, within walking distance of several parts of Cape Town’s central business district.

The property is close to the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the V&A Waterfront and Long Street.

Nearby transport and public facilities include Picbel Parkade and Cape Town Tourism.

Banks and other businesses are also within walking distance. Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital is 230 metres from the property.

Development opportunity

One of the property’s most attractive features is the potential for further development.

The Kings Hotel can accommodate seven additional floors, which gives future owners the opportunity to increase the usable floor area.

The property could continue operating in its current form or potentially be adapted for another commercial use.

The three interconnected floors provide space for hotel rooms, executive offices, boardrooms, meeting rooms, and open-plan workspaces, depending on the property’s future plans.

The Claremont Group described the building as “ideal for enhancing corporate presence and reputation, proximity to major corporate clients, legal firms, and financial institutions, offering excellent networking opportunities.”

This listing comes at a time when Cape Town’s commercial property market is gaining momentum due to the city’s combination of high demand and limited space.

The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) said the CBD has a record R12.8 billion development pipeline across 29 projects.

This includes R2.38 billion in commercial developments and about R6.16 billion in commercial and mixed-use projects.

Vacancy rates in the city are also low. SAPOA reported Cape Town’s metro office vacancy rate was 6.2% in Q2 2026.

In comparison, vacancy rates reached 15.8% in Johannesburg and 12.1% in Durban.

The Cape Town CBD itself had an 11.9% vacancy rate, with 1.06 million m² of office space.

CCID board chairperson and CEO of Boxwood Property Fund, Rob Kane, explained that demand is increasingly concentrated on quality offices, while older B-grade buildings face pressure to upgrade or be repositioned.