The Grand, Grahamstown's landmark former hotel on the corner of Cawood and High streets, whose fortunes were dramatically turned around three years ago, once again faces a struggle to survive.
The Grand, Grahamstown's landmark former hotel on the corner of Cawood and High streets, whose fortunes were dramatically turned around three years ago, once again faces a struggle to survive.
27 years ago, the Grand Hotel, a bustling destination for visitors with plenty of cash, a mecca for fine dining and the venue for a wine festival that drew visitors from all over South Africa and beyond, reached its zenith with the Tastevin Award for the best wine selection in the country.
Leisure trends changed, and the past decade saw the Grand decay into a grubby, delapidated no-go area. Tom Coombs, who bought the building in 2002, had the South African Police Service in there, using it as office space for a while.
Then, in 2008, he and partner Gerhardt Jooste, Managing Director of Prosperito Holdings, a national property development and investment company, were approached by Rhodes University to develop accommodation for them.
They didn't. After declining the University’s offer they turned the Grand Hotel into the Grand Res – a residency which offered a hotel experience to students who stayed there. Students were given the option of single or double rooms, furnished with beds, and with communal bathrooms. Staff said more than 100 students had moved into the Grand Res when it opened in 2009.
Now, once again, The Grand is facing ruin, with fewer than half its student lodgers returning at the beginning of the year and the company forced to retrench 14 staff members. Behind the mass exodus are the investments the university has made in improving its own residences.
“The old management made an effort to make us feel at home. However, staying on campus this year is more convenient," said Keamogetswe Tshepe, explaining why she didn't return this year. "There are more meal options. They have internet access, working bathrooms and its closer.”
With fewer than 60 students staying at The Grand this year, the newly appointed warden and manager Mildred Wessels is pulling out all the stops to encourage students to return.
“I’m very approachable," Wessels told Grocott's Mail on Monday. "I try my best to solve every problem that’s brought to my attention.”
In her efforts to make The Grand a home away from home, Wessels has revamped the menus. There was now also internet access for student residents at the Grand Res, she said.
But the biggest change, Wessels, said was to improve her relationship with all who lived or worked at the Grand Res.
Meanwhile, the five remaining staff members carry a heavy load, doing the cooking and cleaning for the entire residence. “I like working here, I enjoy cooking, but I have to do the work that three people do,” Mini said.
Like anyone in Grahamstown who has a job, she counted herself lucky. But life would be a lot easier if the students came back, she said.
