READAM. Financing of Development Portfolio
By Ajay Chathley, Chief Executive Officer.
Johannesburg, March 2015
READAM was launched in 2008 as a mid-level, privately owned property
development company. Its portfolio to date includes five well-known commercial
buildings in Sandton, Johannesburg, which were purchased and upgraded to
contemporary specifications in consultation with their neighbouring communities.
Their latest project, opening in Illovo in March 2015, is titled MAX – a 4-star business
apartment hotel consisting of 28 chic, hi-tech serviced apartments at 5 Rivonia Road ,
Illovo. The project was completed on a budget of R65m and is being managed by
READAM directors Ajay and Priya Chathley during its initial months of operation.
MAX is their first venture into such an operation, one which is uncompromisingly
aimed at exceeding customer expectation. The MAX Philosophy sets higher standards
of living for its customers. The Max brand will be experienced through every touch
point the customer has with the MAX product. This is the definition of our Personal
Touch. The philosophy of MAX is More Than. More than is a way of living. It is doing
more, being more, so that you can always expect more. This philosophy speaks to the
Max brand and will be experienced through every touch point the customer has with
the product.
They have financed and rebuilt the project on schedule and plan to manage it
themselves to ensure that news of READAM’s hallmark ‘Personal Touch’ travels
throughout the corporate and conference world.
Ajay and Priya Chathley launched their property development company READAM in
2008. Their vision was to create new forms of commercial centres in prime business
sites, bringing state-of-the-art upgrades to select period buildings regarded as
cultural markers in their communities. The company motto is “to improve people’s
lives by creating beautiful buildings”. This philosophy is driven by meticulous planning
and relentless business focus on achieving their goals in today’s competitive property
market.
A 5 Rivonia Road, Illovo, Sandton, 2196 / W www.maxapartments.co.za / E [email protected]
P O Box 783424, Sandton, 2146
Max Illovo (Pty) Ltd Reg. No.: 2014/004192/07 / Vat No. 4480266792
Directors: Ajay Singh Chathley ! Priya Chathley
Ajay Chathley, now 38, grew up in Botswana in a family with a proven track record of
entrepreneurialism in Southern Africa. His father was in retail, property development,
fuel distribution and engineering. Ajay completed high school in the UK, doing his Alevels at St Andrews College in Cambridge then writing a business degree at Kings
College, London. Returning home, he moved to Johannesburg, later working in Absa
CPF (Commercial Property Finance) department after doing his MBA at Wits
University and going on exchange to Duke University in the U.S. He wrote his thesis on
funding the listed property sector, and has a firm grasp on the financing aspects of
property transactions.
Priya Chathley, 37, was educated in Delhi, majoring in English Literature at St.
Stephens College. She then did an MBA in marketing while working as a researcher at
the global Blackstone Market Facts company. They married in 2001.
Ajay Chathley joined Deloitte Consulting in 2006 as a Senior Manager in innovation
consulting and new business development. “At Deloitte I was identifying, developing
and commercializing new businesses for clients and I couldn't wait to it for myself,” he
says. “Priya and I were scouting for likely projects every day. We both love the real
estate and property markets and bringing our vision to life from blueprints to the
actual buildings is our great satisfaction.”
In 2008 Priya launched READAM with the re-development of the run-down but ideally
located Illovo Junction building on Oxford Road, at the intersection of Corlett Drive.
Once the project had commenced in 2009, Ajay left his consultancy job to become
CEO of READAM.
Since then the company’s development slate has included landmark properties such
as The Village, opposite the Library in Parkview’s Tyrone Avenue and the Chathleys
are now working with the neighbouring traders and residents to upgrade the street
and pavements. Sak’s Corner 1949 in Parkmore is the Thomas Maxwell building, which
is a completed project and READAM’s future plans for the Thomas Maxwell bistro in
Parkhurst’s popular and crowded 11th street include underground parking and a
pedestrian boulevard, again in tandem with the neighbouring owners and residents.
Says Priya: “11th Ave in Parkmore is another of those roads that we drive daily.
Adjoining the massive redevelopments taking place in central Sandton, it offered small
properties ideal for our scale of development. We literally finalised the deal for the
Saks’s Corner property, on the corner of Elizabeth Street, in a day.”
2 READAM is a small company with endless vision for the growth potential of South
Africa’s mid-level property market. With a staff of five, including Property Manager
Stefan Prinsloo, its achievements in just six years reflect the passion, pace and
efficiency of its developments.
The recently completed READAM Company HQ at 2 Sandton Drive is designed, like all
of their projects, as a low-profile, state of the art, high security building with ample
tenant and visitor parking and quick access from the bustling main roads. Regus
Serviced Offices are the anchor tenant at this building. It is prominently located on the
intersection of Grayston and Sandton Drive. Quality of working life is a vital element of
their development philosophy.
For further information on READAM and MAX BUSINESS APARTMENTS, please
contact:
Melanie Millin-Moore, Public Relations
Mobile: 083 463 8414 e-mail: [email protected]
Monika Marshall
Mobile: +27 82 807 0558 E-mail: [email protected]
Web-links for reference on READAM and MAX BUSINESS APARTMENTS:
www.readam.co
www.maxapartments.co.za
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