In the late 1980s, when Moritz Wellensiek was four, his German father — an obstetrician-gynaecologist —was offered a position at a Durban hospital.
For his father and his Italian-born mother it began a back-and-forth life between SA, Germany and Italy. And aside from helping the young Wellensiek learn many languages, it sparked his wanderlust.
He is now 35. His latest innovation is turning empty office buildings into an international network of co-living and co-working communities that would appeal to other free-minded global travellers.
Wellensiek’s office-to-residential conversion venture began even before Covid. In 2018 he convinced SA Breweries to sell him its former head office on Fredman Drive, Sandton. He turned the 10,000m² mothballed building into 208 studio, one-and two-bedroom residential and hotel apartments. Its red face-brick shell was painted a dark charcoal and BlackBrick had found its name.
Within 35 days of its launch, 90% of BlackBrick Sandton’s units were sold at prices starting from R895,000. Despite the construction delays brought about by the pandemic, the project was completed in November 2020.
A year later, Wellensiek opened his first Cape Town property, a 100-room "aparthotel" in Riebeek Street in the city centre.
Two more BlackBrick redevelopments are under way. The first is another office conversion on Fredman Drive that is being repurposed as a mix of 295 residential and hotel units. The second is BlackBrick Bedford, the former head office of the Airports Company SA. Set amid 35,000m² of parkland in Bedfordview, Ekurhuleni, it will be turned into 253 units.
Wellensiek believes the focus on creating "vertical villages" that offer an affordable and flexible live, work and play lifestyle — with everything under one roof — is key to the success of BlackBrick’s model.
"Our product is aimed at millennials who don’t necessarily want to be tied down to one location, but are looking to be part of a vibrant network of communities spanning multiple cities," he says.
BlackBrick has introduced club membership that offers owners and tenants the option to move freely on a pay-as-you-stay basis between its developments in different locations, with access to each property’s leisure and co-working facilities. He has embraced the "sleep small, live large" concept, offering small but well-designed private spaces complemented by an amenity-rich communal offering.
The new Sandton development, where prices start at R995,000, has a three-level entertainment complex including a 100-seater cinema, cocktail bar, conversation lounge, two restaurants, boxing gym as well as co-working spaces, Zoom pods and boardrooms.
Other add-ons include a veggie garden, yoga studio, pool and pizzeria, as well as a sharing scheme for electric cars.
At BlackBrick Bedford, shared amenities include a resort-style swimming pool, clubhouse, all-day café and deli, paddle tennis, running trail and outdoor cinema.
Over the past 15 years, Wellensiek has tried his hand at various entrepreneurial ventures, "including one or two failed attempts", he says. "I started my first company, Varsity Grid, when I was 21. It was an online platform … to connect students across the country to share stories and pictures."
He then branched into furniture manufacturing and sourcing, initially supplying the retail market, and later moved into the corporate sector, doing the furnishing and outfitting of properties for hotel and hospitality groups. "So property development and hotel management was a natural next step for me."
In 2020, Covid put a temporary spanner in the BlackBrick works as it hammered leisure and business travel. "We had to completely remodel our hotel income projections," he says.
But there was also a silver lining. Shifts in the way people live and work, particularly the widespread adoption of remote working, supported the rise of the digital nomad and gave impetus to BlackBrick’s business model.
Wellensiek has ambitious plans for BlackBrick and hopes to have 10 sites up and running across Joburg, Cape Town and Durban in the next two years. He has also set his sights on expanding the brand to Berlin, Lisbon, Dubai, Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York. He says: "We’re looking to have 100 BlackBrick locations in 10 countries by 2033."
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