With major retailers secured for the 27,000m² mall and road improvements and taxi rank upgrades already started, the mall is scheduled to open for trade in September 2014. Links to the adjacent Stretford Station are a key element of the mall's design. Flanagan & Gerard and Stretford Land Developments are developing the project.
"We are proud of the fact that our development has been designated a 'Presidential Project' with national, provincial and local government support because of its community upliftment initiative," says Flanagan & Gerard's Peter Gerard.
"The developers, the Orange Farm community and the City of Johannesburg's Region G are creating a new town centre, with an integrated transport hub that connects Eyethu Orange Farm Mall with Stretford Station and the Golden Highway, which is to become the 'Jabulani' of the South.
"The current critical mass of retail is 32,700m², with growth potential to approximately 61,000m² GLA on both sides of Stretford Station," says David Lieberman of Stretford Land Developments. Investors in the project include the two developers, Dipula Income Fund and the Orange Farm Community Trust.
A key attribute of the mall's location on Orange Farm Link Road is its ability to serve not only local shoppers from Orange Farm and Evaton, but also commuters and shoppers from the Greater Sebokeng region.
The residential areas of Orange Farm and Evaton have seen fast-paced growth in the past seven or eight years, with the current population at 400,000 people in 110,000 households. Most households fall into lower- or middle-income brackets.
"Some 50,000 households lie within a 10km radius of the mall and new growth of about 20,000 households is forecast in close proximity to the site over the next decade," says Izak Petersen, CEO of Dipula Income Fund, pointing to extensive research conducted at the site.
"Dipula is delighted to be part of this project and, together with our partners, provided funding for the community's equity. This investment is in line with our strategy to invest in previously disadvantaged communities and to make a meaningful contribution towards their upliftment. Dipula has already acquired the first phase of the development, of approximately 5,700m², with anchor tenants Boxer Supercity and Cashbuild and both have reported good trading. We will build a KFC Drive-thru on the same site in a few months."
"Importantly, where a community has no mineral wealth, its only wealth is its buying power. The mall has created an avenue for the Orange Farm Community to participate in its own wealth creation through an ownership in the mall," says Vusi Tshabalala of Stretford Land Developments.
A large part of the mall's trade is expected to be 'walk-in' shoppers. Commuters are likewise a distinct target market for the mall, with Stretford Station alone seeing some seven million passengers a year from as far afield as Lenz, Lawley, Kwaggastroom, Houtheuwel and Grasmere.
The centre will offer free, open-air parking to shoppers in private vehicles. The two-level mall will offer an array of national and local retail tenants, with an emphasis on food, household goods, fashion and services. Shoprite, Pick 'n Pay, McDonalds, Clicks, Truworths, the Foschini group, Mr Price and Edcon are already signed up.
