Another group of Gauteng landmarks will go under the hammer in a fortnight.

In a mass auction, Sanlam Property Asset Management - the property arm of investment giant Sanlam - is to sell off 11 properties and four vacant plots in Gauteng and elsewhere around the country.

This follows the success of the company's "summer sale" earlier this year in which the 25-storey Kine Centre and the 31-storey TrustBank building in the Joburg city centre changed hands.

That auction was the start of the biggest offloading of real estate in South African history and sent a bold signal to emerging investors that the Joburg city centre was ripe for redevelopment.

Now, said Bonnie Olivier, the owner's national sales manager, the "opportunity for secondary investors to get into the property market" was being extended to outlying centres.

The top property to go under the hammer in the first of a series of auctions this Wednesday will be the Shoprite-Checkers shopping centre in Brackenhurst, near Alberton, which is valued at R15-million, is fully let for the next two years and brings in a net income of R3-million a year.

James Dall of auctioneers Aucor said there had been "a lot of interest" expressed in the centre, and in two other key Gauteng properties that will be put on the block: the 40 000m² former OK Bazaars building in Krugersdorp, which is expected to go for R3-million to R8-million; and the tallest building in Springs, the 10 830m² Post Office Tower, which houses Telkom and should fetch up to R10-million.

There are also four vacant lots expected to collectively fetch R2-million: a 15 721ha farm adjacent to the industrial area in K ya Sands; an 8 197m² stand in Devland north of Eldorado Park; six stands in Vosloorus; and a 9ha plot in Springs.

Other properties to be on auction sold are:

Klerksdorp: A motor showroom and workshop (1 970m²) to be auctioned on Thursday.

Phalaborwa: A partially let two-storey shopping and office centre (4 399m²) to be auctioned on October 20.

Bloemfontein: The former Defy showrooms in Hilton (2 328m²). October 22.

Port Elizabeth: A seven-storey building on Govan Mbeki Avenue with tenants. October 27.

Grahamstown: A p artially let shopping centre opposite the cathedral. October 28.

Oudtshoorn: Shops and offices in High Street also with tenants (1 121m²). October 27.

Durban: The landmark John Ross House on the Victoria Embankment. November 3.

Sunday Times