MAKHADO - Residents could see the opening of the town’s own Pick ‘n Pay store by the end of 2006 with the development of the Makhado Shopping Centre.

Construction of the centre will begin in November this year on a portion of the town’s existing municipal sports grounds. The project will bring an R80 million investment to the region with Pick ‘n Pay being the main anchor tenant.

The site was acquired by Landmark Real Estate Services by means of a municipal open tender in May 2003. They then approached RMB Properties to form a joint venture in the development of the centre.

The new centre’s size will be approximately 13 000m² plus a proposed CTM warehouse of approximately 1 600m² neighbouring it – totalling approximately 14 600m². It is designed as a convenience centre with easy access and parking.

Although the shopping centre will be anchored by Pick ‘n Pay, this will not be the only attraction as the developers aim to create a convenience centre that caters for the majority of consumer needs in the form of food stores, restaurants, take-away foods, fabrics and banking.

“National businesses will take up 80% of the lettable floor area, while local businesses will take up 20%,” says Mr Lionel Kisten, Director of Landmark. He urged local businesses to contact them if they are interested in acquiring floor space.

The concept of the centre has been designed to take account of the fact that there is no one-stop shopping experience in town. According to the developers, the existing retail services in the CBD are dispersed and lack integration. They added that some areas in town/CBD are also regarded as unsafe and the need exists for a safe shopping destination. They say the convenience of cohesive retail shopping at a one-stop destination with ample parking would benefit both retailers and shoppers in town, as well as other shoppers from Zimbabwe, Musina, Elim, etc.

Architecturally, the centre attempts at all times to encompass a human-scale environment that is conductive to leisurely convenience shopping. The architecture aims to capture the local context of the surrounding area with exposed and stained timber truss walkways and painted corrugated roof coverings.

The main access to the centre will be from the existing Sibasa Road on the northern boundary. Two alternative access points will be provided from Commercial Street, feeding straight into the site, and Limpopo Road on the southern boundary. Parking provided will be in accordance with the Council requirements of five bays per 100m² for a retail centre, amounting to 650 parking bays.

Not all inhabitants, however, share the excitement about the new centre, especially not the sport clubs having to move as their current facilities will have to be demolished to make way for the construction of the centre. The gymnastics, wrestling, badminton and squash clubs are affected by the development project. These clubs are forced to relocate to an area behind the taxi rank in Eltivillas as allocated by the developers.

“It’s a question of ‘take it or leave it’. We have no other option,” says Mr Dirk Coetzee from the wrestling club. His sentiment is shared by members of other clubs as well. The safety aspect of the new location is a huge concern, as well as the fact that the planned new sporting facilities are nothing more than a replacement of the current facilities with little improvement, while, in many cases, the new structures do not comply with the requirements for several of the sporting codes.

As part of the development plan, a new gymnastics, wrestling and badminton hall, as well as a new squash court, is to be build. Mr Kisten said that tenders will be issued for the construction of these facilities, while making use of local skills in the construction phase. It is said that the new sporting facilities could be finished as soon as February next year.

For more information on the project, phone Mr Kisten at Tel (011) 402 1585 or Nicholas Matjeka (RMB) at (011) 775 1309.