A look at the Fourways “mega-mall” planned for 2018

·18 Apr 2016

A massive development to make Fourways Mall the second largest mall in the country – and the largest in the Gauteng province – has broken ground.

The project is being built through Accelerate properties, which will see the expansion of Fourways Mall – joining with other centres in the area – to cover 175,000 square metres under one roof.

As at September 2015, Accelerate’s property portfolio had a fair value of R7.65 billion covering 57 properties over 488,040 square metres. Nine of the group’s properties – including the R2.2 billion Fourways Mall Shopping Centre – are at the center of the Fourways Development.

As part of the development plan, approximately R30 million will be spent on the refurbishment of the existing Fourways Mall Shopping Centre, and a further R270 million will be spent on the adjacent road infrastructure around the mall.

Ultimately, Fourways Mall will get approximately 90,000 square metres of additional retail space, culminating in the mall transforming into a super-regional shopping centre.

Other prominent letting enterprises within the Fourways retail node include Fourways View, Cedar Square, The Buzz Shopping Centre, Fourways Game and Leaping Frog, which were part of a R2.65 billion development project in 2006.

Once linked, the mega-mall will be larger than Sandton City (128,000 square metres) and the country’s newest “mega” centre, Mall of Africa (131,000 square metres).

Gateway, in Durban, still commands the top spot as the biggest mall in South Africa – and Africa – at 220,000 square metres, however.

The financing of the project will be handled directly through Fourways Precincy Limited (FPL), which is owned part of the Accelerate group.

There are plans to achieve around 1,000,000 square metres of rights in the future, the group said.

According to a credit rating review for the group in February 2016, the Fourways Mall Development is expected to be complete by mid-2018.

Concept