West Hills Mall, Ghana
Africa has significant potential for real estate investments with the continent’s retail landscape constantly changing as international brands target the African consumer, commercial property services company Broll Property Group CEO Malcolm Horne said on Friday.
He pointed out that Broll had more than one-million square metres of retail projects in various stages of completion in East Africa, West Africa and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, with an additional 500 000 m2 of potential future developments under investigation.
“In East Africa, for example, we have 11 projects, or 301 000 m2, and retailers who have shown interest include established local retailers, master franchises, retailers from the Middle East and South African retailers,” Horne said.
He stated that Broll was proud that the East African market had embraced the company’s business and awarded it property management contracts of assets worth in the region of R7-million over a 12-month period.
Meanwhile, the company had 19 projects in the SADC region, with retail interest from master franchises; Middle East retailers, in Angola specifically; global luxury brands and South African retailers that were expanding into the region.
Further, Horne said the West African market, where Broll had 23 projects, was seeing significant master franchise and emerging Middle East retail interest, as well as interest from European brands and local retailers.
He noted that Broll had leased and would manage the West Hills Mall, which was set to open in Ghana at the end of this month.
Broll had also been awarded management and was involved in leasing the Two Rivers mixed-use development, in Nairobi, Kenya, and had also been awarded the exclusive leasing mandate for the Mall of Africa in Johannesburg.