{"id":807292,"date":"2025-01-19T20:00:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T18:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=807292"},"modified":"2025-01-19T20:01:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T18:01:05","slug":"large-south-african-shopping-mall-completely-empty-and-deteriorating-in-plain-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/807292\/large-south-african-shopping-mall-completely-empty-and-deteriorating-in-plain-sight\/","title":{"rendered":"Large South African shopping mall completely empty and deteriorating in plain sight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Villa shopping centre in Pretoria has been empty for 15 years and is slowly deteriorating. However, the owners plan to complete its construction and fill it with stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Villa shopping centre is a R3.5 billion development and was set to be one of South Africa\u2019s largest malls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comprises a gross building area of 302,744 square meters, of which 111,285 square meters are zoned for offices, conferencing facilities, education, training and retail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall was built on the corner of Delmas and De Villebois roads in Moreleta Park, Pretoria, and was set to compete directly against the popular Menlyn Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project, designed to house over 300 tenants, was part of Sharemax\u2019s portfolio and attracted R1.5 billion in investor funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction started in January 2009 and was expected to reach practical completion at the end of August 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, during this period, Sharemax landed in trouble. In 2010, the South African Reserve Bank found that Sharemax\u2019s funding models contravened the Bank\u2019s Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2010, the Registrar\u2019s Office issued directives to Sharemax and its property syndication companies to repay the funds obtained from members of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This directive triggered the collapse of Sharemax\u2019s property syndication schemes, in which investors lost millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Villa shopping centre, Sharemax\u2019s most ambitious property syndication project, was a casualty of the company\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction on the shopping mall stopped in 2010 despite the project being 75% complete, a big blow to investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharemax founder Willie Botha tried to rescue the project and ensure investors did not lose money. However, he was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011, Capicol CEO Paul Kyriacou said completing The Villa shopping centre would cost R700 million to R800 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, over the last fifteen years, the Sharemax matter has been tied up in litigation and there has been no further development at the mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New plans to complete The Villa shopping centre<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Villa Mall plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Villa shopping centre has been deserted for fifteen years and, due to its deterioration, has become an eyesore in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community has regularly expressed frustration with the structure, which is an eyesore due to its makeshift fence and overgrown vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal wranglings related to the project meant that the city could not address the problem, leaving everyone frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that there has been some progress regarding the project, with plans to complete the mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2023, Villa Retail Park Investments, controlled by the Nova Property Group, offered to acquire The Villa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nova Property Group, established in 2011, is the rescue vehicle for the failed Sharemax property syndication scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nova Property Group CEO Dominique Haese said the group\u2019s goal remains to complete the construction of The Villa shopping mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that they plan to repay relevant Villa Debenture Holders who had historically invested in this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she said this is funding dependent, but that funding is being pursued. It is assumed that it would cost over R1 billion to complete the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, no further details than what has been communicated can be shared at this stage, but any material will be communicated when appropriate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a communique from December 2023, Nova Property Group said the goal is to complete the project within three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remains to be seen whether this plan will materialise, as legal entanglements have prevented any resolution thus far, leaving the mall empty and unfinished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haese told Daily Investor<\/a><\/strong> that legal disputes must be resolved, which remain in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Villa shopping centre today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Villa shopping centre in Pretoria has been empty for 15 years and is slowly deteriorating. However, the owners plan to complete its construction and fill it with stores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":793917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[21444,21143,21442,21443,20627],"class_list":["post-807292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-nova-property-group","tag-sharemax","tag-the-villa-shopping-centre","tag-villa-retail-park-investments","tag-willie-botha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807479,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807292\/revisions\/807479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}