The gloves are off in the battle for East London's new mega shopping malls.

One developer's attack on another's mall proposal - labelling it an "eyesore" and a potential "white elephant" - was revealed in letters of objection to the municipality earlier this week.

Three companies are competing to attract the all-important national retailers to their proposed developments, but there is market consensus that the city can support only one regional shopping centre.

Cape-based Thynk Property and Investec Property Group, who are behind the proposed mall in Gonubie, sent four angry letters to the municipality objecting to a rival's application to rezone its Beacon Bay site.

The objections were made public in the latest council agenda, to be discussed next month.

In the letters, Investec's Gregory Worst, argued that the site proposed by East London-based Pearlstone properties - situated next to the N2 and near Beacon Bay Retail Park - would be a blot on the landscape and was a potential "white elephant".

Thynk boss, Leon Quenet, added that the planned mall would lead to traffic congestion and pollution, and should be developed for residential purposes, he argued.

Setplan's Piet Jonas, responding on Pearlstone's behalf, said the municipality did not have a role in making "property market-related judgments" or in acting as an advocate of one development over another.

He said any objection against the Beacon Bay development based on the threat it posed to a rival scheme was a trade objection and regarded as invalid.

Pearlstone's Beacon Bay project is the only one of the three to have a confirmed anchor tenant in Woolworths, who have committed to placing a full-line store in the mall.

The City's director of planning and economic development, Craig Sam, has already recommended that the council approve the application, arguing that the location of the site presented the "greatest opportunity for business activity in the area".

Pearlstone did not return the favour and filed no objections to their competitor's application to rezone its Gonubie site.

"We do not need to employ below the belt tactics," said Pearlstone's founder Terri Cooke on Friday.

This week all three groups remained positive their projects would succeed.

While the fierce competition has drawn out the process longer than expected, ambitious promises by Thynk and rival Billion Group have failed to materialise.

The Billion Group earlier announced that construction on its site at Hemingway's Casino would start at the beginning of this month - creating 3,000 jobs.

To date, all that has been done is some bush clearing at the site.

When Thynk announced their plans for a multimillion-rand mall in Gonubie late last year, they predicted construction would begin in July and lead to R3bn direct investment.

While the company has not yet signed a critical mass of retail tenants, and their application to rezone the site is still being considered, some work has begun on the site, and they have also erected a billboard.

This week executives from the Billion Group and Thynk agreed their early predictions were ambitious.

"The problem is that retailers naturally take longer to choose what is in their best interests," said Billion Group boss Sisa Ngebulana.

Daily Dispatch
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge