For years, the Ritz Hotel has stood like a ghost above Sea Point: its revolving restaurant frozen in time, its rooms condemned and its ground-floor shops among the last signs of life in a building that once symbolised Cape Town glamour.
Now there are signs that something is finally changing.
People familiar with activity at the building allege internal work may have begun, although there has been little visible change from the street.
And now The National can reveal that there are plans now lodged with the City of Cape Town revealing what could be coming next: a revived hotel, 44 residential apartments, restaurants, wellness facilities and a major overhaul of the long-shuttered landmark.
The City formally advertised the application on September 18, opening it to public comment until November 2.
The application, submitted on behalf of OKU Cape Town, seeks permission to rezone part of the property, regularise the existing 75m tower, create an electrical substation servitude and approve the development and landscaping plans.
It does not yet amount to approval to redevelop the Ritz. The City still has to assess the application and consider public representations.
But after years in which the building's future has been uncertain, the plans provide the clearest picture yet of what its new owner wants to do with it.
What is planned for the Ritz?
The existing 25-storey hotel tower would remain.
The biggest change would be inside.
Hotel suites would remain on floors nine to 22, while floors four to eight would be converted into residential apartments.
The top of the tower would retain its restaurant spaces on floors 23 and 24, preserving the part of the building that made the Ritz famous for its sweeping views over the Atlantic Seaboard.
The plans also include a new façade, with changes intended to address structural and fire-safety requirements, as well as new balustrades and screening around the building.
At ground level, the proposal includes an expanded swimming pool, gym and spa, as well as a covered yoga deck and a larger arrival and forecourt area.
The existing parking structure along Grimsby Road would remain.
The wider development would contain 44 residential units.
The plans also provide for a mixed-use building fronting Main Road, with retail space, a hotel reception and lounge, co-working and conference facilities, apartments, hotel suites and a pool terrace, bar and restaurant.
That building is already covered by a separate City land-use approval granted in January 2026 and is not the main subject of the current application.
The mystery of the tower
There is an intriguing question buried in the planning documents: why does the City now need to approve a new land-use application for a hotel that has stood on the site for decades?
The answer is partly explained by the property's complicated planning history.
The site is currently split between two zonings. GB5 covers the footprint of the mixed-use building along Main Road, while GR4 covers most of the site where the hotel tower stands.
The problem is that the hotel use is not a primary permitted use in the GR4 zone under the current scheme, while the existing 75m tower also exceeds the height allowed under that zoning.
The City searched its archives for previous planning authorisation for the hotel's use and height and, according to the application, found no record.
But the applicant's argument is that the hotel use may never have needed a separate planning approval in the first place.
Under the old Cape Town Zoning Scheme, which applied before the 2015 Municipal Planning By-law, “residential buildings” were permitted as of right in the relevant General Residential zone. The definition of a residential building included a hotel.
The application therefore presumes that the hotel use was lawful under the zoning that applied when the Ritz was developed.
The height is more complicated.
The planning document places the Ritz among a small group of high-rise buildings that were developed under older planning schemes and now exceed the height limits of their current zonings.
It identifies Twin Towers, a 16-storey building between Main Road and Beach Road; The Towers, a 20-storey building on Main Road above the Checkers Centre; and Pavilion Place, a 26-storey building immediately behind the Sea Point Swimming Pool.
The document says these buildings, including the Ritz, have become characteristic landmarks in the Sea Point landscape despite the planning rules that now apply to them.
Given the scale of the hotel tower, the applicant says it is reasonable to presume that its height was authorised at the time, even though the City has been unable to locate that authorisation in its records. The application does not say the tower was built without permission.
It then makes a more unusual argument.
The applicant says that when the new planning system came into effect in 2015, the property could arguably have been recorded as General Business 7 (GB7). That zoning would have accommodated the hotel as a primary use and come closer to accommodating the existing tower's height, although a technical height departure would still have been required.
The application goes further, suggesting that the failure to record the property as GB7 may have been intentional, because leaving the development rights to be resolved through a future land-use application would allow the City to use a Site Development Plan to constrain other development parameters when the hotel was eventually redeveloped.
That is the applicant's interpretation of why the zoning was carried forward in its present form, rather than an established finding by the City.
The current application is therefore seeking to resolve the planning position as part of the Ritz's revival, including a 75m height departure from the 60m limit under the proposed GB7 zoning.
It also seeks permission for four existing carriageway crossings along Grimsby Road, where the applicable rules provide for two, as well as subdivision to create a servitude for an electrical substation.
In other words, the planning application is not simply about renovating an old hotel. It is also an attempt to resolve decades-old questions about what development rights the Ritz actually has, what was authorised under the old planning system and what the City will allow on the site now.
What about the Ritz's heritage?
The Ritz was completed in 1972, putting it just under 60 years old.
The planning application says its redevelopment therefore falls within the scope of the National Heritage Resources Act, but that the building has been graded “Not Conservation Worthy” in the City of Cape Town's Heritage Audit.
It says this means no Section 34 permit is required.
Although the property is larger than 5,000 square metres, the applicant says the proposal does not constitute a change in the character of the site and therefore does not trigger a Section 38 heritage process.
The property is also not within an existing or proposed Heritage Protection Overlay Zone.
So despite the Ritz's status as one of Sea Point's best-known landmarks, the planning application says the proposed redevelopment does not require the additional heritage approvals that apply to protected or conservation-worthy buildings.
From glamour to ruin
The Ritz was once one of Sea Point's best-known landmarks.
Its revolving restaurant, the Top of the Ritz, became a destination for Cape Town diners and visitors, offering sweeping views over the Atlantic Seaboard.
The hotel also became part of Cape Town's political and cultural history. Nelson Mandela stayed at the Ritz after his release from Victor Verster Prison in 1990, while generations of Capetonians remember the hotel as a place to celebrate, dine and be seen.
But its fortunes changed dramatically.
A proposed revival culminated in a high-profile soft launch in 2018, backed by restaurateur Nicky van der Walt and plans for a major refurbishment.
The reopening never happened.
A legal battle between Van der Walt and the owners eventually ended with a High Court order requiring his management company to leave the building, bringing the planned revival to a halt.
Then came years of decline.
During Covid, the building was occupied by people who had unlawfully entered the property and the owners embarked on a lengthy legal process to remove them. The building was subsequently condemned as unfit for occupation.
When photographer Armand Hough and I were taken inside in 2025, the contrast between the building's past and present was stark.
There was no electricity or working lift, broken stairs and windows, water damage and abandoned furniture. Almost every floor carried warnings that it was condemned.
Yet above the decay were glimpses of what made the building special: marble, gold detailing, dramatic bathrooms, the pool deck and, at the top, the still spectacular revolving restaurant and its panoramic views.
A new owner, a new plan
The property was bought by OKU Cape Town in 2025 for R368 million.
OKU Hotels, an international luxury hotel group with properties including OKU Ibiza and OKU Kos, has described the Ritz as its first urban hotel in Africa.
When the group bought the property, chief executive Piers Bradley said it wanted to “restore this iconic property with care and creativity”, bringing OKU's design-led hospitality concept to Cape Town.
The group has previously said the Ritz would incorporate hospitality, wellness and dining.
The new planning application gives those ambitions considerably more detail.
It shows a project that would retain the distinctive tower while changing its use, adding residential space and expanding the hotel's leisure and dining offering.
The City application says the development would involve 12,807 square metres of floor space on the portion being rezoned, including a concession for 2,292 square metres of hotel floor space.
The traffic assessment submitted with the application found the redevelopment would generate an estimated 142 two-way vehicle movements during the morning peak and 230 during the afternoon peak.
The assessment concluded that the impact would be low and that no intersection upgrades or traffic mitigation would be required.
Now Sea Point gets its say
The planning application marks a significant change in the Ritz story because the next stage is no longer entirely in the hands of the developer.
The City has formally opened the proposal to public comment.
Residents, businesses and other interested parties can submit representations on the application until November 2.
For a building that has repeatedly promised a comeback only to fall back into silence, there is still a long way to go.
The planning process could result in changes to the proposal, objections or conditions being imposed before any redevelopment can proceed.
But for the first time in years, there is a detailed public plan for what the Ritz could become.
The tower is still there. The revolving restaurant is still there.
And behind the walls of one of Sea Point's most recognisable buildings, the next chapter is finally taking shape.
vivian.warby@nationalmg.co.za
