Last week saw the sod turning ceremony at the site of the R400 million regional shopping centre, Eyethu Orange Farm Mall in Orange Farm, Gauteng.
The R400 million regional shopping centre, Eyethu Orange Farm Mall in Orange Farm, Gauteng will open in September 2014.
According to its owners, the mall is poised to act as a major catalyst not only for the Orange Farm and Evaton areas, but for the whole Greater Sebokeng region.
It is located in Orange Farm between Johannesburg and Vereeniging and is easily accessible via the Golden Highway as well as the Orange Farm arterial roads.
The mall is also located adjacent to and linking into Stretford Station, which will form the new Town Square.
Stretford Station is used by residents of Lenz, Lawley, Anglers, Middendale, Grasmere, Stretford, Residentia, Eatonside, Kwaggastroom, Houtheuwel and the Greater Sebokeng area.
According to Urban Studies report 2009, Stretford Town Square consists of low to middle income households. LSM 5-10 represents 33 percent of this market which will further increase and the average household income is between R3 000 and R4 000 per month.
Eyethu (meaning its ours) Orange Farm Mall is owned by Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed property company, Dipula Income Fund (30 percent), Streford Land Development (Pty) Ltd (30 percent), Flanagan & Gerard Investments (Pty) Ltd (30 percent) and the Orange Farm Community Trust (10 percent).
Speaking to Property24.com, Izak Petersen, chief executive officer of Dipula Income Fund explains that the mall will be built in three phases.
The first phase measures 27 000 square metres and this is scheduled to open in September 2014 and will be developed by Flanagan & Gerard and Stretford Land Developments.
The two-level mall will offer an array of national and local retail tenants, with an emphasis on food, household goods, fashion and services.
Retailers will include Shoprite, Pick n Pay, McDonalds, Clicks, Truworths, the Foschini group, Mr Price, Edcon and many more.
The centre will offer free, open-air parking to shoppers in private vehicles and trading hours will be suited to shoppers.
David Lieberman (Stretford Land Development), Izak Petersen (Dipula Income Fund), Peter Gerard (Flanagan & Gerard) and Vusi Tshabalala (Stretford Land Development) at the sod turning ceremony.
He says the second and third phases will be built on demand with the second phase measuring between 5 000 and 6 000 square metres and the third phase between 15 000 and 25 000 square metres, taking the entire mall to approximately 60 000 square metres once complete.
Petersen points out that what makes this project interesting for Dipula particularly is the community involvement and ownership of the project.
The development of the mall has been designated a Presidential Project with national, provincial and local Government support because of its community upliftment initiative, says Flanagan & Gerard’s Peter Gerard.
Road improvements and taxi rank upgrades have already commenced, and links to the adjacent Stretford Station are a key element of the mall’s design.
The residential areas of Orange Farm and Evaton have seen fast-paced growth in the past seven or eight years, with the current population at 400 000 people in 110 000 households. Most households fall into lower- or middle-income brackets.
Petersen says 50 000 households lie within a 10km radius of the mall and new growth of about 20 000 households is forecast in close proximity to the site over the next decade.
More revealing is that currently, households spend at least R200 on transport to do their monthly groceries at Southgate Shopping Centre in Mondeor, money which they could potential use to buy more groceries for the month.
He says the impoverished community of Orange Farm will benefit hugely from this mall as they will be able to access retail services without spending a fortune on transport.
“Dipula is delighted to be part of this project and, this investment is in line with our strategy to invest in previously disadvantaged communities and to make a meaningful contribution towards their upliftment.”
He says Dipula has already acquired the first phase of the development, of approximately 5 700 square metres with anchor tenants Boxer Supercity and Cashbuild, and both have reported good trading and a KFC Drive-thru will be built on the same site in a few months.
Petersen says although Orange Farm is a disadvantaged community, the buying power of households is understated. The fact that households spend R200 on transport alone to shop is evidence that they have the money to spend, what is lacking is a mall where they can do their shopping under one roof.
“We are tapping into these communities because we believe they are growth markets and the challenge often in these locations is getting services and infrastructure installed so developments can commence.”
He says we are likely going to see more investments into these communities countrywide by listed property funds.
“Where a community has no mineral wealth, its only wealth is its buying power and so Eyethu Orange Farm Mall has created an avenue for the community to participate in its own wealth creation through an ownership in the mall,” says Vusi Tshabalala of Stretford Land Developments. – Denise Mhlanga
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