Superbly located on the corner of Outspan and Rivonia Roads, Morningside Shopping Centre serves one of South Africa’s most affluent trade areas including the Sandton suburbs of Morningside, Duxberry, River Club, Sandhurst, Sandown and the eastern parts of Bryanston.

The original centre opened over 40 years ago and in early 2008 was purchased by Flanagan & Gerard Property Development and Investment and Grapnel Property Group which secured the rights for this vibrant redevelopment, which took 14 months for completion on schedule.

“Morningside Shopping Centre is now a AAA grade two-level retail centre, standing over five times its previous size with a fully-let convenient, quality lifestyle retail offering, spanning some 10,500sqm, that is both exciting and relevant to its market today,” says Patrick Flanagan of Flanagan and Gerard.

With its 80 handpicked retailers selected for quality products and personal service, the centre is anchored by an unique 1,950sqm Pick n Pay daily shopping concept store. The one-of-a-kind Pick n Pay store will be inspired by the concept of bespoke shopping.

“It will become the local grocer to this market, as it were,” explains Pick ‘n Pay director of property and operations Izak Joubert. “The store will have the focus of an owner-managed operation which introduces a level of service, range and quality that will really impress.”
 
The Morningside Shopping Centre emphasis is on personally owned and operated stores that offer the things that people want most on a day-to-day basis. However, the centre’s ethos to serve the community goes beyond the sphere of shopping.

“We’ve taken a proactive stance with the goal of bringing the community together to the benefit of residents as well as initiating new projects which have been identified. Our focus is safety, schools in the area and public places of interest in Morningside,” says Annie Philippeos, Centre Manager of Morningside Shopping Centre.

Morningside Shopping Centre, whose owners also live in the community, is working in conjunction with the local SAPS and community policing forums to help establish the centre as a communication hub between residents and these bodies.

Nearby schools and community resources also been approached by the shopping centre with an offer of joint projects.

Creating an unique offering for families of the nearby French School and the some 6,000 French speaking residents in the Morningside community in general, Morningside Shopping Centre is also launching a new weekly French Market to be held every Sunday (starting Sunday 14 June). The French Market will stock a variety of fresh French produce such as bread, cheese and much more, as well as French linen and other treats. The market will also sell books written in French, which are very difficult to source in South Africa.

Morningside Shopping Centre will be providing a sponsorship of Redhill School’s Golf Day on Friday, 24 July and Ernest Ullmann Recreational Centre, which offers residents of Gallo Manor, Wendywood and Morningside Manor numerous activities, recently received a lawn mower from Morningside Shopping Centre.

In addition, the area’s residents and commuters alike will benefit from an investment of some R4 million in the upgrade of roads surrounding the centre, undertaken as part of the redevelopment. To ensure the best possible flows of traffic around the new centre, the developers consulted road engineers PD Naidoo and Associates to undertake a thorough traffic impact assessment.

In conjunction with the JRA, roads in the immediate area have been improved including the upgrading of Outspan Road, between Rivonia Road and slightly west of Waggon Street. Outspan Road has been enlarged from two lanes to five, with two lanes for traffic travelling in each direction, and also a third central right-turn lane for traffic turning into Rivonia Road.

For increased traffic safety the access to Morningside Shopping Centre from Rivonia Road has been relocated closer to the Outspan Road intersection, and the entrance upgraded. Waggon Street, which is located on the west side of Morningside Shopping Centre has been widened to include a second lane for north-bound traffic. Upgrades to traffic signal timings will also better cater for traffic flows.

“The increased number of shoppers which will be attracted to the new, larger Morningside Shopping Centre, with its wider variety of shops, will be easily facilitated by the new upgrades. Visitors will also have access to generous open and covered parking,” notes Flanagan.

The new design utilises the fall across the site to offer ground floor shopping at the Rivonia Road level and ground floor shopping off Waggon Street with vehicle access to the centre available from both roads. The two levels are linked by lifts and escalators in a naturally lit central atrium.

The new Morningside Shopping Centre has a sculptural quality. “The inspiration style is about subtle sophistication and minimalism and incorporates a largely neutral colour palette and fluid lines to achieve an elegant building,” notes Pierre Lahaye, partner at MDS Architects.

Flanagan & Gerard and co-investors Grapnel Property Group are involved, inter alia, in properties such as Vaal Mall and Paarl Mall.  Flanagan and Gerard are currently investors and co-developers of the R1,2bn Mall of the North in Polokwane and also developed Lakeside Mall in Benoni and the recently open Highveld Mall in eMalahleni (Witbank).