KEYSTONE Investments, developers of Campus Square shopping centre in Melville, Johannesburg, have shown that oversupply in the retail property market can be beaten.
Its Campus Square, launched in December, already boasts 90% occupancy of its 18500m² retail space.
It is anchored by Pick 'n Pay and Woolworths, and hosts a string of other national branded tenants such as Truworths, Mr Price, Clicks and Ackermans a mix envied by a number of other recently launched developments.
About 80% of its tenants are national retailers.
Keystone got one essential of property investment right: location. It put Campus Square on the corner of Kingsway and Main Roads, opposite Rand Afrikaans University (RAU).
'To say the retail market is oversupplied is a generalisation that applies in some areas and not in others,' says Keystone MD Tienie Linderque.
To get the location right Keystone hired Urban Studies, a property consulting company. Its market survey gave the project the green light.
The centre is placed to serve a number of previously under-serviced residential areas, including Westdene, Bosmont, Montgomery Park, Auckland Park and Brixton.
Linderque says Campus Square is not taking anything away from Melville, which offers specialised retail outlets.
Campus Square has been erected on land owned by RAU. Keystone has a 30year lease with the university, and an option to renew the lease for a further 40 years or buy the development at the end of the 30-year term.
This is a result of a RAU initiative to unlock value in the land it owns in and around Melville through long lease agreements.
A McDonald's outlet has also been erected on university land, and a sport and science institute is planned.
Keystone boasts three other retail developments the 47000m² Keywest shopping centre in Krugersdorp, a 21000m² centre in Randfontein, and the 14000m² Marone Centre in Burgersfort, Mpumalanga.
Publisher: Business Day
Source: Business Day
Melville site pays off for Keystone
Posted On Monday, 04 March 2002 14:01 Published by eProperty News
KEYSTONE Investments, developers of Campus Square shopping centre in Melville, Johannesburg, have shown that oversupply in the retail property market can be beaten.
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