R30-million mall-meets-market shopping centre launched

Property management company Citiq on Wednesday launched its R30-million mall-meets-market shopping centre, 27Boxes.

The centre, located in Third avenue, in Melville, was built using 102 shipping containers. It hosts about 80 stores selling clothing, décor and art, as well as restaurants and coffee shops.

Citiq CEO Paul Lapham noted that this was Citiq’s first retail centre, adding that about 80% of the stores already had their doors open and that the property had a vacancy of only 2%.

The centre offered tenants short-term rental options of about three months, adding to the market feel, but also offered longer-term rentals of between two and three years.

Small businesses could rent affordable space in a secure and central environment.
Lapham said there has been a lot of interest over weekends, so they were expecting a really good turnout, particularly with Spring coming.

Construction on 27Boxes started in September 2014 and Lapham added that it took about two weeks to build.
“Finishing around the containers took around another three months,” he said. The original idea for the 27Boxes retail centre came from a similar project in London, known as Boxpark. The centre was designed by Citiq MD Arthur Blake.