The Mall of Africa will officially open its doors to the public on Thursday. Punted as “the biggest mall in Africa, it is the largest single-phase shopping centre development to date at 130,000 m2 of retail space. The mall aims to cement Johannesburg as the shopping mecca of the continent and set a new benchmark for shopping centres in Africa.
According to the developers, the mall will serve as the hub of the 323-hectare Waterfall development project estimated to cost R71 billion to complete, with 11 more years of development still to go.
The Waterfall development is expected to expand over the next 10 to 15 years to become around the same size as Sandton. The whole precinct masterplan’s urban design seeks to promote an integrated live-work-play environment.
Corporations including Cell C, Altech Group, Cipla and Group Five have their headquarters in the precinct. The mall is co-owned by two South African property companies. Attacq, holds the commercial development rights to Waterfall and owns 80% of the Mall of Africa. Atterbury Property Group owns the remaining 20% and is responsible for the mall’s development project, on behalf of Attacq.
Atterbury began the construction of the R5-billion Mall of Africa in October 2012. Atterbury undertook major roads upgrades, spending around R290 million on upgrading the road network system around the development to make it easy for shoppers to arrive at the 26 entrances of the Mall of Africa. Atterbury says over 90% of available retail space has been let to date.
