January 13 2025 15:00
This is a guest article for Ask Ash, written by Ash Müller
Can we just take a moment to talk about Blok?
Cape Town apartment group, Blok recently launched what might just be their slickest Blok yet – TWENTY2ONW. Located at 22 Wisbeach Road, Sea Point, Cape Town – it is just a few metres from the promenade. For these Cape Town Kings, this will be their 19th development.
On launch day, Blok sold 80 of the 81 apartments available for sale. Only one two-bedroom apartment remained for sale in this development, and it has since been sold. This is almost a 100% development sell-out.
That’s a lot of demand for this tree-lined street in Sea Point. Perhaps it’s due to the limited locations available for development between Main and Beach Road. The buildings here are generally older, so opportunities to invest in modern buildings in peaceful side streets like this are appealing.
I spoke to Troy, the Head of Marketing at Blok. He says that buyers can get excited about a chic penthouse that will be launched within the next month as soon as its design is finalised.
I have been following Blok’s projects for the past decade, and it’s safe to say that they are transforming the status quo when it comes to funky residential developments. To date, they have released 1014 apartments onto the Cape Town market. I particularly like the use of wood, stone, glass, and metal in their design for their newest TWENTY20NW development.
I really liked their Norfolk Road development, SIXONN, which is located just one street away from TWENTY2ONW. Both developments are similar in terms of their surroundings, featuring greenery and easy access to the lively Main Road on one side and the peaceful promenade on the other. I spoke with several apartment owners at SIXONN, and they mentioned that they have been enjoying good returns over the past two years. Additionally, many owners truly love living there.
Something I appreciate about the exterior façade design of Blok’s developments is that each building quite literally has its own unique personality. It is hard to point at one of their finished buildings and automatically recognize the design so that you can say, “Aaaah, that must be Blok’s”. Instead, every project has its own distinct visual identity.
A render of TWENTY20NW
With regard to TWENTY20NW, I personally love the architectural design. From afar, it looks as though waves of literal bouclé are being wrapped around this building. The waves are apt, due to its neighbouring location to the ocean, and as for the textured concrete similar to that of the fabric bouclé, well, who doesn’t love bouclé!
I like Blok’s edgy coding style for naming its developments. For too long, South African developments have been named after French and Italian things and towns. It’s so unrelatable. Sometimes, when I see a new development name, I wonder if the person naming it was playing Russian roulette with the dictionary or if they are genuinely serious.
Blok does something different. They use the street name and number to create a code that tells you exactly where the development is located and on what road. The names are simple, effective, and easy to remember, and I like them.
With developments sprinkled all over town, this urban developer is showing no signs of stopping. They have a cornucopia of developments in Green Point, Sea Point, Bantry Bay, Bo-Kaap, Vredehoek, the Cape Town CBD, and soon another suburb… Jacques refused to tell me where, so once I know, I will share it with you. Jacques did mention that Blok will be launching its tallest building to date in 2025, so I am really looking forward to that launch.
Jacques van Embden is the brainchild behind Blok, the founder and CEO. Every time I chat with him, I can hear the founder’s heart in the tone of his text.
Jacques and his team have been developing in Cape Town for over a decade. With a property journey that started with much passion, naïve excitement, and a certain level of uncertainty, it’s safe to say that Blok has become the expert in delivering quality mixed-use builds throughout Cape Town.
In a world increasingly focused on specialization, personalisation, and niche markets, I appreciate that Blok has no plans to expand into other provinces. They remain dedicated to their construction projects and want their team to be physically close by. Which I believe is a wise approach; after all, construction sites can be unpredictable. Once you break ground, it’s like opening Pandora’s Box, you never know what you might discover.
I WhatsApped Jacques to ask him what his favourite part of the development process is. He replied with a voice note. I think he put it down perfectly (and real) when he said:
“I find that the development process is very difficult. I think the whole piece is challenging, wonderous, and terrifying, has highs, lows, breakthroughs, has roadblocks and it’s a very comprehensive process that involves financials, product-market fit, design, economics, timing, council regulations, engineering, marketing. It has all the elements of designing a new car, and so that’s extremely challenging but very rewarding.”
I’ll probably say some of my favourite parts are when I feel like all the professionals, the architects, the quantity surveyor, the engineers, you know, everyone is just humming, and the quality of work they are producing is very high. I think that’s probably when I’m at my most happy because you get to really enjoy the process a bit more.”
In summary, I would say that Blok constructs exceptional buildings in locations they are passionate about, and this commitment is clearly reflected in their work.
A render of TWENTY20NW
QUICK FACTS ABOUT TWENTY20NW:
– Pet-friendly
– On-site laundry facilities
– Retail, office, and co-workspace available in the development
– Communal pool deck with Lion’s Head and Atlantic Ocean Views
81 apartments made up of:
– 20 Micro apartments
– 21 Studio apartments
– 22 One-bedroom apartments
– 10 Two-bedroom apartments
– 1 Three-bedroom apartment
– 1 Three-bedroom Penthouse
– 7 Garden apartments
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