South Africa: Mall of Africa opens for business

South Africa: Mall of Africa opens for business
One of the continent of Africa’s largest malls outside Johannesburg

Atterbury Property Holdings

WATERFALL, GAUTENG (SOUTH AFRICA) – The iconic Mall of Africa today opens its doors for business in Waterfall City. The 131,038sqm (1,410,481.29 SF) mall marks the largest first phase completion of a mall ever in South Africa, boasts more than 300 outlets, is host to some of the world’s most famous retail brands and is valued at R4.9 billion upon opening for trade.

The Mall of Africa was officially opened during a select breakfast opening ceremony by the Premier of Gauteng, Mr David Makura with a larger scale mall launch celebration planned in May 2016.

Commenting on the Mall of Africa development, Louis van der Watt, CEO of Atterbury says: “In line with the Atterbury vision to create working, shopping and entertainment spaces for everyone to live to their full potential, the development of this breath-taking shopping and leisure destination introduces an unmissable, unmatched retail experience. Mall of Africa’s exceptional scale, design, location and retail mix places it at the forefront of development.”

Mall of Africa boasts great shopping, many lifestyle features, events infrastructure and attractive surrounding environments and landscaped gardens. Mall of Africa with its unique experience-based architecture holds a lot of excitement. Conservative estimates indicate that around 15 million people will visit the destination mall annually to enjoy a world-class blue chip shopping experience.

In addition to a vast array of both local and international brands Mall of Africa also boasts uniquely identified court areas made for easy shopping navigation as well as exceptional access, location and visibility. Mall of Africa has an elegant design enhancing the environment it is positioned within. The mall’s architectural appearance is inspired by Africa’s geological features and landscapes. The layout of the mall is both straight and curved with a racetrack circulation. A central spine links a variety of offerings beneath a large and dramatic environmentally friendly roof covering. This dramatic glazed roof feature is said to be one of the largest of its kind in the world and spectacular lighting design will add more drama for those visiting the Mall of Africa after dusk. Mall of Africa can be accessed through 26 entrances; has 50 sets of lifts, hoists and tenant lift facilities and 40 escalators in Mall of Africa and within tenant stores.

The brands on offer include Cotton On, H&M, and Forever 21 with fabulous international brands like Forever New, River Island, Mango and Versace. South African brands include the Foschini Group, Mr Price and Truworths, while anchors for the Mall include national favourites Woolworths, Edgars, Checkers and Game. Super exciting is the first offering in South Africa of Armani Exchange, Helly Hansen, Asics, Zara Home, The Kooples, Under Armour, Mango Man and Amsterdam-based Soap Stories to mention a few. The Mall of Africa will also offer a vibrant and lively family orientated relaxation and entertainment park and children’s play area. The park is designed to bring families, friends and colleagues together by providing an area where they can enjoy nature and picnics within walking distance of their offices or homes. In addition to this an interactive musical water fountain will provide an entertainment element for children as well as adults.

Waterfall City and the mall are ideally located next to the N1 highway on the first free-flow intersection of its size in Africa at the Allandale Road exit. Thus getting to Waterfall City is not only easy, but also convenient from all surrounds. Waterfall City and Mall of Africa are on a convenient Gautrain bus route from the nearby Midrand Gautrain station with ample provision for public taxi access. Dedicated Uber pickup and drop-off points at the Mall of Africa are a first on offer in a South African retail environment.

The new R160 million Bridal Veil Road overpass bridge, developed by Atterbury Property Development, will open at the same time as the mall and create a brand-new east-west transport route. The new bridge crosses the N1 highway south of the Allandale Road interchange and north of the Buccleuch interchange. It creates a direct link between Midrand and Waterfall City with the new R40 million, 1km S-bend dual carriageway extension to Bridal Veil Road, which will take shoppers right to the doors of Mall of Africa. It will carry four lanes of traffic – two in each direction – a pedestrian walkway, a cycle lane and a raised centre median.

“With the opening of the Mall of Africa, Attacq confirms its pursuit of sound capital growth, delivering its strategic business model for long-term returns for all Attacq’s stakeholders. Attacq will continue to develop, invest and grow wisely as a sound listed capital growth fund with a strong investment and development pipeline beyond this major milestone. We will continue to pursue good business opportunities in South Africa, developing markets as well as established markets,” concludes Wilken.

The project implemented multiple green technologies, including a massive photovoltaic installation on the roof of Mall of Africa. The installation will be the largest in South Africa and Africa and will provide 4.8MVA of sustainable power for the centre. The mall will use grey water harvesting in all public toilets and for the irrigation of the entire development. Its design means natural light is maximized in the mall in such a way that shopper comfort is also optimised.

Highlights pertaining to the Mall of Africa

• Mall of Africa opened for business as scheduled on 28 April 2016, marking the largest first phase mall development in southern Africa to date
• Mall of Africa boasts more than 300 outlets across the 131,038 sqm mall
• Convenient location with easy access from the N1 Allandale interchange
• Attacq owns 80% of the Mall of Africa, the super-regional mall with a value of R4.9 billion and is developed by Atterbury, owner of the remaining 20%

Mall of Africa opens
Stuart Graham
The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG — South African shopper flocked to the opening Thursday of one of Africa’s largest malls outside Johannesburg, despite rising unemployment is rising and slowing economic growth.

The Mall of Africa, spanning 130,000 square metres (1,399,308.35 SF)  registered 68,000 visitors by midday, a spokesman for the mall’s owners told The Associated Press.

Before the opening of stores at 9 a.m. lines of people, some stretching for more than a hundred meters (yards), waited outside of international stores that recently launched in South Africa, such as fashion retailer H&M, Starbucks and doughnut shop Krispy Kreme.

The mall, which caters for a luxury as a well as a low-end market, had to block overcrowded escalators as massive crowds built up outside retailers offering opening specials on everything from televisions to bulk packs of toilet paper.

The mall, which developers say will be the largest in Africa once it is completed, opens as the country’s economic prospects look bleak. Unemployment has increased from 22 per cent in 1994 to 25 per cent at the end of 2014 with approximately 5 million estimated to be jobless, according to the state Statistics South Africa.

The country’s gold and platinum mines have been retrenching tens of thousands of workers in the past year after a fall in demand for commodities from China, while an El Nino drought has decimated agricultural production, forcing food prices to go up. South Africa’s economic growth is expected to slow to a 0.5 per cent this year, according to ratings agency Moody’s.

_____
Mall of Africa

Waterfall City is conveniently located at the Allandale Road exit. This one of the new commercial hubs in the province of Gauteng, South Africa.

_____

Mall of Africa not biggest in South Africa

By Lindile Sifile
Sowetan

The Umhlanga Rocks-based mall is still the biggest shopping centre in the country with a massive 220,000 square metres (2,368,060.29) of retail space (boasting over 400 stores and eateries) while the second biggest centre, Canal Walk in Cape Town, is sitting at 141,000 square metres (1,5177,11.37 SF).

Gateway Mall remains the only mall to have over 200,000 square metres (2,152,782.08 SF) of shopping space.

Although located in a strategic area between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Mall of Africa, however, has an above average floor size compared to Cape Town’s Cavendish Mall (45000m²/484,375.97 SF), Tyger Valley Centre (90,000m²/968,751.94 SF) and the Eastern Cape’s new biggest mall in the province, Bay West, (90000m²/968,751.94 SF).

According to Urban Studies research done in 2015 for the SA Council of Shopping Centres, SA has the sixth highest number of centres of any country in the world.

SA has close to 2000 shopping malls with a total floor area covering 23-million m².

______
Video: Mall of Africa opening

______
Video: Mall of Africa

______
Video: Thousands shop as Mall of Africa opens

______
Video: The new Mall of Africa is in a good location

_____
Video: The new Mall of Africa owned 80% by Attacq and 20% by Atterbury

_____
Video: Showcasing Attacq Waterfall Investment Company’s development portfolio, which includes among others the Mall of Africa development
South Africa’s largest single-phase shopping mall development to date.

West Hills Mall -Accra, Ghana

West Hills Mall opened in October 2014. The proposed second phase will add approximately 7 000m² (75,347.37 SF) to the mall, taking it to 34,700m² (373,507.69 SF).

West Hills Mall incorporates popular South African brands as well as a mix of local and international retailers, restaurants, banks and a cinema complex.

The site is situated on the newly completed Cape Coast highway on the western side of Accra, 20km (12.4 miles) from the existing Accra Mall in the east. Excellent access is provided via a dedicated underpass bridge structure from the highway to the shopping centre. West Hills Mall is situated in a rapidly developing middle-class residential area, which is a 30-minute drive from the Accra CBD. It forms the gateway into the greater Accra region from western Ghana.

Accra Mall -Ghana

_______
Jabi Lake Mall – Abuja, Nigeria

Video: Jabi Lake Mall – Abuja, Nigeria

________
Palms Shopping Mall -Lekki area of Lagos, Nigeria

Video: Palms Shopping Mall -Lekki area of Lagos, Nigeria

________
Ado Bayero Mall – Kano, Nigeria

_______
Polo Park Mall – Enugu, Nigeria

______
Palms Shopping Mall Ibadan, Nigeria

_____
The Sarit Centre – Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya

_______

Mlimani City Shopping Mall – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania