Grove Mall construction on track

According to Charles Fourie of Safland Property Group, the construction of the Grove Mall of Namibia is running smoothly and is on track. To date 90% of the Grove Mall has been rented out ahead of its official opening in 2014.

“There exists a lot of public interest in the mall that will be a 54,000 square metre, three-level shopping mall with three parking levels.
To date, anchor tenants that have signed lease agreements with the mall are Game, Checkers, Edgars, Spar and Ster Kinekor” said Fourie.
“Approximately 25% of the tenants will be represented for the first time in Namibia.
This number is likely to increase as we are currently in negotiations with a number of exciting brands to take up space in the mall,” said Fourie adding that 90% of the gross lettable area has been let and allocated which is equal to approximately 49,000 square metres of the available space. A few of the first time tenants in Namibia include Aca Joe, Jenny Button, Hilton Weiner, Vertigo, Urban, Mango, 9West, Forever New, Guess, Aldo, Frazers, Poetry, Old Khaki, Vida E, Wakaberry’s, Smart Store, Bt Games, Scoin, Outdoor Warehouse, Cotton On Group, Dischem, Toys ‘R’ Us, News Café, and Coricraft.
Other tenants include, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Woolworths, Truworths, the Foschini Group, Mr Price Group, Clicks, Incredible Connection, MTC, and Namibian retailers Otto Muir, Paulo’s, OTB and Boardriders.
The Grove Mall of Namibia will feature the first real food court in Namibia with restaurants spilling over to the outside seating where a large open court will entice children of all ages with a unique water feature.  The mall will have six to eight restaurants on the upper level and provision will be made for disabled parking as well as special mommy-assist parking bays for parents with children. “All parking bays at the mall will be 20cm wider than most parking bays currently available at existing shopping centres in Namibia, which provides ease of access and convenience,” Fourie pointed out.
In 2011 the bulk earthworks for the mall and the construction of the new irrigation reservoir for the City of Windhoek were completed, with the actual construction, headed by Murray and Roberts Namibia, started on 1 November 2012. The opening date of the mall is set for 01 October 2014.
To date a total investment of approximately N$400 million has been made. It is expected that the total eventual investment will come to approximately N$1.1 billion. Approximately 700 jobs are being created during the construction phase. “We further expect that between 1500 and 1800 permanent jobs will be created once the mall opens next year,” said Fourie.
The Grove Mall of Namibia forms part of the Hilltop Estate Development, which is 220,000 square metres in total. In 2009 the City of Windhoek awarded the tender to develop the Kleine Kuppe area to Demushuwa Property Developers. Demushuwa expects the entire Hilltop Estate Development to be completed in 2018.