{"id":836002,"date":"2025-08-26T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836002"},"modified":"2025-08-26T11:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:00:49","slug":"good-news-for-people-that-shop-at-south-africas-largest-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/836002\/good-news-for-people-that-shop-at-south-africas-largest-mall\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for people who shop at South Africa’s largest mall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fourways Mall continues its turnaround strategy, as South Africa\u2019s largest mall adds new retailers, with Planet Fitness the latest to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fouways Mall is the largest mall in South Africa, sitting at 178,202 sqm. However, the mall has faced increased challenges recently, including high vacancies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst increased vacancies and the deterioration of the mall, part-owner Accelerate agreed to pump R400 million into upgrading it in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property experts Flanagan and Gerard and the Moolman Group also took over as the mall managers. The mall has seen a massive shift, driven by a focus on the needs of its upwardly mobile shopper base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular gym chain Planet Fitness has become the latest addition to the mall, opening its 51st gym in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Fourways Mall club has been designed as a true functional training hub,\u201d said Mannee De Wet, Managing Director of Planet Fitness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a place where the community can come together to train smarter and support each other in reaching their individual goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gym has a full range of HYROX equipment, including a triple sled track. It is also the first club to introduce a dedicated stretch and mobility zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With another location already in Fourways, Planet Fitness is providing complementary spaces for the price of a single membership, with Fourways Mall members also allowed to use the club at the Buzz shopping centre, and vice versa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Wet said that the decision to open a second club in the Fourways area was due to the rapid development in nearby neighbourhoods, the investment into supporting infrastructure and strong demand for healthy lifestyle offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other retailers<\/a> that recently joined the mall include Huawei, Spur, Mochachos, Pet Shop Science and ZuluZenith, while Spur has also re-joined the mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall will also soon host the popular gaming and technology convention, rAge Expo.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial service providers, African Bank and Travelex, have also moved to more convenient positions in the mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of the new stores, the mall has been working on a large-scale solar energy system that will see a large section of the roof decked in solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigating Fourways Mall has also become easier due to several recent upgrades, such as improved signage, brighter lighting and a more intuitive wayfinding system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial headaches remain<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Despite the new tenants, the mall still remains a financial headache for its owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JSE-listed Accelerate Property Fund (AFP) recorded a massive R1.27 billion loss for the year ended 31 March 2025, doubling the loss recorded in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The loss is mainly from an expected credit losses (ECL) allowance, which surged by 560% to R1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This relates to impairments from a lapsed deal<\/a> with Fourways Mall co-owner, Michael Georgiou and his investment vehicle Azrapart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Accelerate and various entities agreed <\/a>to restructure debts owed to it all to fall collectively under Azrapart, totalling just under R800 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a bid to settle the debt, the group reached an agreement to balance it to R0 through reverse claims, future investment and acquiring shares of bulk development space owned by Azrapart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, the agreement lapsed in November 2024, and APF warned earlier this year that the full amount may not be recoverable and must be impaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although AFP said it would use whatever resources it had to recover the debt, it admitted that there were legal uncertainties around this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that Georgiou has not yet signed a new agreement, and it will use whatever resources it has at its disposal to recover the debt. However, it admitted there were legal uncertainties around this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azrapart was placed in business rescue earlier this year, meaning that the recoverability of these debts is highly doubtful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation compounded its losses and pushed its comprehensive loss for the year to R1.27 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourways Mall remains the largest asset in its entire portfolio, with AFP\u2019s 50% share valued at R4 billion, valuing the mall at R8 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indicator<\/th>31 Mar 2024
(R\u2019000)<\/th>		31 Mar 2025
(R\u2019000)<\/th>		Y\/Y change
(%)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Rental Income including recoveries<\/td>873 615<\/td>824 036<\/td>(5.7%)<\/td><\/tr>
Net Property Income<\/td>539 699<\/td>494 737<\/td>(8.3%)<\/td><\/tr>
Fair Value Adjustments<\/td>(396 338)<\/td>(318 945)<\/td>19.5%<\/td><\/tr>
Expected Credit Loss<\/td>(158 093)<\/td>(1 046 461)<\/td>561.9%<\/td><\/tr>
Loss after Tax<\/strong><\/td>(624 738)<\/strong><\/td>(1 269 635)<\/strong><\/td>103.2%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Loss per share<\/td>(48.21)<\/td>(74.29)<\/td>54.1%<\/td><\/tr>
Headline loss per share<\/td>(20.34)<\/td>(58.24)<\/td>186.4%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
AFP’s financial results for the year ended 31 March 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourways Mall has welcomed a major new tenant, as the mall continues its turnaround strategy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":774229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[19746,853],"class_list":["post-836002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-fourways-mall","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836002","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836002"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836006,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836002\/revisions\/836006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}