As the large institutions flail about, now is the time for entrepreneurs to turn crisis into enterprise. Failed shopping centres could serve as a base for developers to recycle them for other purposes - schools, hospitals or entertainment centres, says Pat Flanagan, former MD of retail developer Colliers RMS.
This trend fits neatly with the institutions shedding their properties to a growing band of entrepreneurs. He sees larger centres turning excess space into other uses at lower rents.

Skinner points to recent turnarounds, for instance Gardens shopping centre in Cape Town and Killarney shopping centre in Johannesburg, both previously owned by Anglo American Properties. They were bought, respectively, by entrepreneurs Mike Garvin and Louis Milner, who sold them on to property trusts at big profits