All posts by : Willbridge

OLD Mutual Properties is strengthening its offshore property management arm and has added a contract to provide leasing, marketing, facilities management and operational support services for Ukraine’s premier shopping centre, Univermag Ukraina.

The appointment to manage the centre, which is undergoing a $20mil renovation, will see Old Mutual Properties consulting for New York based NCH Capital, which owns 93% of the Kiev complex.

NCH is an investment group targeting the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and is one of the largest investors in the region’s privatisation programes. It has direct investments in more than 100 companies in Russia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, Georgia and Moldova.

Old Mutual Properties retail property executive Brent Wiltshire says the appointment is a major breakthrough into a key emerging market. It follows Old Mutual Properties’ consulting assignments in the Middle East.

The NCH work entails developing an appropriate tenant mix plan and rolling out a leasing strategy that will attract international and local retailers to the 25 000m2 centre.

“We will also provide marketing support, focusing on prospective tenants and consumers, and training centre management,” says Wiltshire. “We will issue tender specifications and service level agreements for centre services, evaluate tenders to ensure the centre is managed cost-effectively to best standards, and award contracts to be carried out in accordance with service level agreements,” he says.

The complex, originally a state department store which opened in 1966, is in Victory Square, one of the best retail sites in Kiev. It is also near the main train stationed an easy walk from bus, tram and metro systems.

It is estimated that more than 200 000 commuters walk past the complex every day, says Wiltshire. The upgrading of the four-storey complex will include modernising its trading areas, installing state-of-the-art escalators with convenient access to all parts of the building, improving lighting and implementing substantial cosmetic repairs.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 27 NOVEMBER 2002 | BUSINESS DAY

Old Mutual Properties has won a contract to provide leasing, marketing, facilities management and operational support services for Ukraine’s best-known retail complex, Univermag Ukraina, which is now undergoing a $20 million renovation.

The appointment will see the company consulting to New York-based NCH Capital Inc which owns 93% of the complex in the heart of Kiev, the capital.

The city has a population of 4 million.

NCH, an investment group targeting the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, is one of the largest investors in the privatisation programmes of the region. It has direct investments in more than 100 companies in Russia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, Georgia and Moldova.

Brent Wiltshire, retail property executive of Old Mutual Properties, says the appointment is a major breakthrough into key emerging markets. It follows earlier consulting agreements by Old Mutual Properties in the Middle East.

“For NCH and Univermag Ukraina, we are developing an appropriate tenant mix plan and then rolling out a leasing strategy that best meets the needs to attract both international and local retailers to the 25 000m2 centre,” he says. “We will also provide marketing support, focussing both on prospective tenants and consumers, and training of centre management.”

“In the area of facilities management, we will issue tender specifications and service level agreements for centre services, evaluate tenders to ensure the centre is managed cost-efficiently to best standards, and award contracts to be carried out in accordance with service level agreements.”

Wiltshire says Old Mutual Properties will oversee the management of the complex for two years.

“One of the first opportunities to market Univermag Ukrania was at Mapic, the international retail exposition in Cannes in November. We have been showcasing our recent developments in Southern Africa and our range of property services for several years at Mapic and added Univermag Ukraina to our offering this year.”

He says the complex, first opened as a state department store in 1966, is in Victory Square, one of the best retail locations in Kiev.

“It is near the main train station and within an easy walk of the local bus, tram and metro system. It is estimated more than 200 000 commuters walk past the complex every day.”

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 26 NOVEMBER 2002 | SAPOA ONLINE

MUTUAL and Federal Insurance has signed a 10-year lease for 5 557m2 over five floors in Safmarine House, boasting occupancy of the CBD landmark building to 98%.

The lease, effective from last Thursday, follows the acquisition by Mutual and Federal of CGU Insurance, which led to increased space requirements. One of the city’s largest leasing deals in recent years, it involved relocating the eight existing tenants within the office tower.

Viv Delbridge, of Old Mutual Properties’ Corporate Real Estate Services, who handled the deal, says the lease is a further signal of the Cape Town CBD’s vibrancy.

She says Mutual and Federal wanted a presence on contiguous floors in the A-grade flagship in the CBD only if the right deal was struck.

“There was some space available in the building after an office downsizing by the building’s former major tenant, SA Marine Corporation (Safmarine), in the wake of its takeover by Danish shipping line OP Möller. That came after we negotiated consolidation of operations and the renegotiations of some leases, which facilitated the conclusion of the multi-million-dollar sale to OP Möller.”

Marten van Leeuwen, branch manager of Mutual and Federal Cape Town, said Safmarine House was an appropriate location because it was near a public transport system, it gave the company a presence in a building that matched its own blue-chip image in the CBD, which was clearly benefiting from initiatives of the City Improvement District, and it was convenient for clients.

Nigel Ressell, who handles national property requirements for Mutual and Federal, added that though there were reasonable alternatives on the market, Mutual and Federal was happy that Old Mutual Properties was able to go to such lengths to create a property solution and the kind of space the insurer required.

“Brenda Bibby, property manager of Safmarine House for Old Mutual Properties, began to negotiate with eight existing tenants in April last year”, says Delbridge. Delbridge is now assisting M&F with space requirements in Old Mutual Centre in Durban, another building managed by Old Mutual Properties, and will be developing solutions for M&F in the Johannesburg and Pretoria CBD.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2002

AMPLE development at the top end of the retail market, resulting in a well-serviced middle and upper class, is causing retailers and developers to set their sights lower.

Future development of massive shopping centres such as Sandton City and Canal Walk will be limited, but retailers like Edcon and Woolworths will tap into the lower end – through Super Mart and iSentials respectively – as some developers move into the townships.

And while there may not be room for major shopping centres, the development of regional and speciality centres continue apace.

Research by the South African Property Owners Association says “super regionals” or centres of more than 65 000 m2 were the weakest in the sector. It says this could be due to the demand for convenience, regional densification and traffic congestion.

Redefine chairman and retail property doyen Wolf Cesman says it would be difficult, but not impossible, to develop more big shopping centres, but they would be worthwhile only in select centres. South Africa does not have a surplus of major tenants, so a big centre would merely be a replica of nearby small and regional centres.

Cesman says that the new centres are still performing, and although new centres such as Canal Walk and Gateway were initially considered unsuccessful, they are now doing well as they were well located and have good tenants.

He agrees that township developments “have always been a challenge”. Residents from Soweto, for example, are shopping in the Johannesburg CBD or malls in the southern-suburbs.

Recent research from Europe shows that a visit to a centre is about more than shopping. Some people go just for coffee. “The essence remains that it should be a place where people can go and get everything under one roof, where they can compare a number of shops selling the same things, and where they have choice.”

Shopping centres supplement this offering with entertainment centres. Old Mutual Properties has a special division to find non-conventional revenue streams in its shopping centres. For example, more than 40% of Umhlanga’s Gateway shopping centre’s space is devoted to entertainment.

But retail property sources say the bulk of new development is at the lower end. This includes the mushrooming of value marts, often adjacent to big shopping centres, where retailers pay lower rentals and sell in bulk.

Old Mutual Properties retail executive Brent Wiltshire says more competition may well develop in the lower end of the market, given that there are millions of low-income South Africans.

“There are large emerging markets with a lot of buying power coming to the fore and these shoppers, who are strongly aspirational, need to be catered for.”

And there are significant opportunities to bring centres into the townships. Shoprite is the anchor tenant of a new development, the Bara mall, on the outskirts of Soweto. Bara mall, which is being developed by 60% black-owned Landmark, will have as its tenants 70% national retailers, including the major banks, and 30% local retailers.

Landmark development director Dennis Thobejane says the company has just closed on tenders and will start building early next month. The centre is already fully let with a significant waiting list.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 18 APRIL 2004 | SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS TIMES

RESEARCH Surveys, one of South Africa’s leading market research in the listed Adcorp Group, is set to relocate its Cape Town head office after saving thousands of rand and hundreds of man-hours in a carefully planned selection process. Research Surveys will take 3 500m2 in Compustat House, a double-storey office block in Newlands.

“Research Surveys has grown rapidly over the past 20 years,” says CEO Henry Barenblatt. “The question was, what do you do when your company eventually spreads its offices over several different buildings, ranging from grand Victorian buildings to more modern cottages.? We felt we were losing potential synergies because of the dispersed nature of our staff and the lack of meeting around the mythical office water-cooler.”

Faced with a mix-and-match collection of premises in Kloof Street, Gardens and Claremont, and inundated by proposals from almost every property broker in the market to consolidate their premises, Research Surveys was faced with a dilemma – how to separate the apples from the lemons in a marketplace they didn’t deal with every day.

The company mandated the Corporate Real Estate Services (CRES) division of Old Mutual Properties to find new premises.

Viv Delbridge of CRES says the team first surveyed the needs of management and staff at Research Surveys, before embarking on and exhaustive analysis of more than 100 properties and developments that might suit the burgeoning needs of the company. A tight short-list of buildings was presented, and decision makers at Research Surveys then had only a small number of properties to view and review.

Although it’s an Old Mutual initiative, CRES does not bind itself to buildings managed by Old Mutual Properties.

“We seek the best solutions for the tenant, ” Delbridge says, “and if that solution happens to be in a building owned by another company, then so be it. CRES does what’s best for its client, the occupier. And the best building in this case required significant effort to nail down. We had to negotiate for an existing tenant to make way for Research Surveys and for significant remodelling to appropriately reflect their corporate image and provide the type of space that would best suit a team-based means of operating.”

Barenblatt agrees that the space a business occupies has an important impact on productivity.

“Having all of our departments under one roof will improve communication, cross-functional productivity and shared learning immensely. That’s worth an enormous amount in an idea-intensive industry like the research field.”

Wall and Smith Property Consultants were able, with the brief from Viv Delbridge, to find a building that satisfied the client needs. Keeping knowledge workers happy can be trying, but the premises Research Surveys are moving into has staff amenities like banks, doctors, convenience retail and public transport all within easy walking distance.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2001 | CAPE TIMES

OLD MUTUAL Properties has been awarded contract to manage a shopping centre in the heart of Lusaka.

The contract, which begins on July 1, is to manage Manda Hill in all facets, from day to day operations to leasing and financial services.

Brent Wiltshire, retail property executive of Old Mutual Properties, says the company was the preferred bidder on tender against stiff competition from the traditional players in this market.

The contract follows the company’s involvement as retail leasing and management consultants on developments in Egypt and assignments for its facilities management consulting division in Malawi and Swaziland.

Manda Hill is owned by a consortium of international investors who have little experience in running a shopping centre and looked to managers with expertise, said Wiltshire.

“Old Mutual Properties has a great deal of experience in the development and management of similar projects. Apart from the expertise we have developed on large projects in South Africa, we have been at the forefront of such developments in both Zimbabwe and Namibia.

“The availability within our core team to provide expert input on a variety of issues in support of a local management team was a strong factor in our favour. We have developed a process that gives clients access to the best skills and technology at affordable prices.

“The contract provides for a performance-driven incentive which also gives the owner some comfort that there will be delivery. “

The centre, which was opened in October 1999, comprises 55 shops.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 2 JUNE 2001 | SATURDAY ARGUS

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

THE Old Mutual representative on the DCCI Umhlanga Area Committee, Brent Wiltshire, invited committee members and guests to a presentation at their Gateway on-site marketing office recently.

TAKING SHAPE
The Gateway Shoppertainment World, due to be completed in 2001, has already started to take shape. This R1,4 billion development is the most visionary retail project ever undertaken in Southern Africa, and is in effect a ‘reinvention’ of retail.

Wiltshire said the best international concepts as well as local know how and innovations are being utilised by Old Mutual Properties to create something completely new.

A Canadian firm, Forrec, previously involved in projects such as Universal Studios in the USA, will be in charge of the centre’s crucial entertainment component.

DESIGNERS
Designers of the award winning Cavendish Square in Cape Town, US-based Development Design Group International will be looking specifically at a super-experiential court, Expo Explore, to showcase and promote the new vibrant store concepts.

ARTICAL ORIGINALLY PLACED IN MID DECEMBER 1999 | UMHLANGA AREA COMMITTEE NEWS

A massive mall, which could be what Sandton City is to Johannesburg, is springing up outside Durban.

A while ago I spent time in Johannesburg by mistake. At the end of it I scuttled back to Durban where I missed little, bar the brilliant restaurants, the Wagnerian grandeur of the summer thunderstorms, the thrill of never quite sure whether one was going to make it home without an AK barrel being rammed down one’s throat, and the music of jack-hammers everywhere.

Now while to mist there are few sounds and sights less lovely than those of a construction site, to me they speak of prosperity, growth and the ascension of running-dog capitalism, or at least free-market enterprise over socialism, tribalism and whatever else.

So I cannot own to being overly disappointed when earlier this year Gateway, one of Africa’s biggest, glitziest shopping-cum-entertainment centres, began germinating just outside the one soporific resort of Umhlanga, 10 or 15 minutes away from Durban itself.

Of course the shopping mall concept has its detractors, chief being those who hanker after a romanticised High Street ideal and tend to live in Melville if they can afford it.

However, the sheer scope and scale of Old Mutual Properties’ burgeoning behemoth should at least temporarily awe critics.

The figures alone make for entertaining reading, with the likes of 127 000m2 of retail space (or almost double that of KwaZulu-Natal’s famed Pavillion), a total investment of R1,4bn (Kersner’s Lost City cost half that to build, if memory serves), and 5 000 working on site recalling the era of Stalinistic giganticsm.

Gateway, however, should be a bit cheerier than a tractor plant or whatever in the Urals.

“It is not going to be just another box-like shopping centre, ” says an enthusiastic project executive Brent Wiltshire. “Rather we are creating a sense of place for people, sort of like an Italian palazzo, in an environment where they can feel safe.

“We do not want to create another Pavillion – we are building something completely different.”

Which is why Gateway, or Gateway Shoppertainment World, to give it its full name, will be divided into a dozen or so different “experiences”, as they are called in marketing speak.

These will essentially comprise several different zones, from City Walk (an outdoor boulevard with palms and plenty of bars, restaurants, bistros and all that) through to Wildside (incorporating an Imax theatre and all sorts of leisure-orientated things) to Cybertech World.

And that is without going into Upper High Street, Futureworld Entertainment Centre and the especially promising-sounding Planet Blue which has to do with all things marine.

Completion is scheduled for September 2001, and an impressive monolith is already arching heavenwards, while the noise and contained chaos of the site is reminiscent of what an American ship yard working around the clock circa 1942 must have resembled.

But never mind its sheer size – that will probably be a drawcard on its own – or the fact that it is expected to cater for around 3 million people living within a 30 minute drive, plus heaven knows how many tourists who no longer find it fun to be mugged on the beachfront.

What excites an arena Natalian such as myself is that Gateway could well provide the impetus for a new central business district, or at least an economic hub, rather like Sandton City for Sandton – especially as the roads around the area are to be upgraded while there is ample space for office development in the immediate surrounds.

And it will no doubt provide me with yet another venue in which to aimlessly wander, spending money on an ailing credit card instead of sitting at home working.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 1 DECEMBER 1999 | BUSINESS DAY

TWO property giants have clinched a R20-million-plus industrial land deal, thought to be the largest in the Durban metropolitan area in more than a quarter of a century.

Moreland Estates, property development arm of the Tongaat-Hulett Group, has sold the Old Mutual 19ha at Mount Edgecombe and a contract for earthworks and site preparation will be awarded soon.

The deal adds impetus to industrial growth and job creation in the Northern corridor and gives OM its first big property capable of development North of the Umgeni River.

It also paves the way for further massive capital investment of about R90 million in Mount Edgecombe, which is currently enjoying a property development boom in its residential, commercial and industrial zones.

Occupying a prominent position at the intersection of the Old North Coast Road (Main Road 2) and the Mount Edgecombe highway (MR94), the OM land is a significant slice of the 100ha earmarked for industrial development in terms of the Mount Edgecombe structure plan.

Moreland’s industrial and commercial development director outlined the huge tasks that lie ahead: “The 10-month services contract will produce a net 16,5ha of level land. This involves the redistribution of 390 000m3 of material equivalent to a rugby field 15 storeys high.”

Old Mutual Properties national investment manager Tommy Osborne said the site was ideal for an attractive and secure landscaped park.

“It also provides a springboard for significant expansion of our R1 billion property portfolio in KwaZulu Natal and is a further expression of our confidence in the region,” he added.

The deal is the largest private sector transaction in the Durban area since Toyota acquired 34,6ha in Prospecton (1969). In 1971, SA Breweries also bought in Prospecton – a 17,1ha site.

The negotiations were concluded by Umhlanga based property broker Macro Ardain.

THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 17 NOVEMBER 1995 | THE MERCURY