Following the receipt of all regulatory approvals, construction is now under way on the R950-million Springs Mall, located at the Blue Crane Eco Park development, in Springs, with the 52 000 m2 regional shopping centre now scheduled to open before Easter 2017.
The landmark mall – a joint venture between Blue Crane Eco Mall, shopping centre developer Flanagan & Gerard Property Development and Investment and Murinda Investments – had already attracted anchor tenants Pick n Pay, Checkers, Woolworths, Edgars, the Foschini Group, Truworths, Mr Price, HiFi Corporation, Clicks, Dis-Chem and Incredible Connection and was 80% pre-let.
The 120-store mall would be easily accessible at the intersection of the N17 highway and R51/Wit road and would act as an interceptor on the N17 for people travelling to Mpumalanga and Swaziland.
As part of the earthworks contract, there would be a realignment of Jan Smuts road along the northern side of the site, providing the centre with frontage on the N17 highway.
To mitigate the impact of load-shedding and as part of several green features of the mall, the developers were investigating the installation of solar-generated power, with the intention of using this as a supplement to the municipal electricity supply.
“We are trying to employ as many environmentally sustainable measures as possible in the mall’s development. The use of natural light is a key part of the mall’s design, as are other green building interventions,” said Flanagan & Gerard Property Development and Investment director Patrick Flanagan.
The broader Blue Crane Eco Park development would see further commercial development on 10 ha of land surrounding the mall.