Although Gateway Shoppertainment World, the R1,4 billion development at Umhlanga, only begins trading in October next year, letting activity has been unusually buoyant.
Old Mutual Properties retail property executive, Brent Wiltshire says; “We are extremely pleased at the speed our leasing book is filling and hope to have 65,000m2 to 70,000m2, equivalent to approximately 60% of the lettable space, accounted for by the end of the year.”
Nationals already committed to Gateway include Cape Union Mart, Steers, Mug ‘n Bean, Just Japs, Europa and House of Coffees, as well as international brands such as Levi’s, Diesel, MacDonald’s and Hugo Boss.
“They are a welcome addition to Gateway’s portfolio and will enhance our fashion and leisure component as well as Spar’s 4,500m2 superstore flagship and the 10,000m2 Hyperama,” says Wiltshire.
We have devoted 50,000m2 to entertainment at Gateway, an area bigger than the nearby La Lucia Mall. Besides Ster Kinekor’s 18 screens and Cinema Nouveau’s five screens, we are creating an entertainment sports zone, Expo Explore, where rock climbing scuba diving, and, a first for South Africa, a standing wave will be some of the attractions.
The standing wave creates a wall of water similar to a wave, following for an extreme sport that combines the best of surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding in an exhilarating forum. We’ve also been approached to look at the possibility of introducing ski slopes and adventure golf, says Wiltshire.
Old Mutual Properties is marketing Gateway in branded zones by locating stores on the basis of market segmentation, lifestyle and customer behaviour.
“For instance, within Cavendish Hall we are creating an upmarket fashion node, Cavendish Style, which will be focused on style and will house international brands such as Hugo Boss. An area known as Cavendish Trends, which is a replica of the first floor at Cavendish Square, will offer the young aspirant shopper a range of up-to-the-minute fashion brands such as Young Designers’ Emporium, Diesel and Levi Strauss.”
“We have also allotted two zones for food and restaurant venues, Palm Court which will accommodate 15 restaurants, and a separate entertainment area for fast food venues. Another brand zone is a home-base area which will be anchored by Boardmans. It will include Loads of Linen, Feature Classics and Design Plus from Johannesburg.
“Gateway is taking the concept of shoppertainment to new heights and we are challenging and encouraging retailers to new creative horizons. Our retail team holds regular brainstorming sessions and they are then mandated to search for certain concepts. As a result we are finding that we are signing up tenants very quickly.”
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 22 DECEMBER 2000 | NORTH COAST COURIER
