New R200 million shopping mall opens in South Africa

Leeuwfontein Crossing has opened its stores, marking another rural retail development for McCormick Property Development. 

The new development, located in Leeuwfontein, Limpopo, is McCormick Property Development’s (MPD) 88th retail build.

Designed by Living Planet Architects, Leeuwfontein Crossing is a small community centre that is under 10,000 sqm with 28 stores. Local reports put its value at R200 million.

The mall, which Shoprite anchors, has been built with expansion in mind, with additional planned GLA already worked into the first phase footprint. 

The mall’s tenant mix also includes Standard Bank, Shoprite Liquor, Studio 88, Pep, Ackermans and a planned Sportscene, while food offerings include KFC, Debonaires and Hungry Lion. 

The centre will be managed by real estate investment trust, Exemplar, with a retail management portfolio of 681,936sqm across six provinces, including Leeuwfontein Crossing.

Like the original McCormick Property Development developments from the 1980s to 2000s, the mall has a signature ‘Umhlanga Wave’ blue roof that was synonymous with its former developments. 

While incorporating modern features that reflect the current retail demands and expectations, the group said Leeuwfontein Crossing indicates just how bright the future of retail is.

“It was a moment to pause and reflect when the architects presented their colour palette for this development,” said the managing director of MPD, Jason McCormick.

“A complete coincidence, but it brought home the legacy of where we started to just how far we have come when developing retail.”

The early years of McCormick saw rural developments with yellow facebrick buildings with teal corrugated iron roof sheeting and open plan layouts allowing easy access for customers. 

With South Africa’s urban centres filled with existing malls, McCormick focuses on rural communities without access to centralised shopping experiences. 

The new shopping centre was opened in September 2024 and is the third to be built in Limpopo. 

Recent developments that the group has opened include the Mbhashe LG Mall and Bizana Walks in the Eastern Cape. 

In Limpopo, the group opened the Madombidzha Mall and Mehlareng Mall in 2024. 

Good times

The mall’s manager Examplar, whose parent organisation is McCormick Property Development, recently saw a large increase in its financial results. 

Like its parent company, the JSE-listed Exemplar core focus is the provision of management retail services to previously under-serviced regions across South Africa, with 27 assts in its portfolio. 

Earlier this week, Exemplar declared a final distribution of 83.16 cents per share for the
year ended 28 February 2025. This increased its total distribution by 10% to 153 cents per share. 

This came after the group saw its rental and recovery income increase by 9.1% to R1.3 billion. Its basic earnings per share also increased by 56.8% to 334.34 cents per share. 

The group’s headline earnings per share also jumped by 25.4% to 142.32 cents per share, with its dividend rising by 13.6% to 66 cents per share.