New life for troubled Ballito Bay Mall?

Plans are currently underway to develop a medical precinct at the Ballito Bay Mall that could breathe new life into what has become a virtual ghost town.

A group of unidentified investors is believed to be spearheading a project to establish a 36-bed day hospital which is to include five theatres, a psychiatric hospital and a 54-bed rehabilitation hospital with 10 high care beds.

It is understood that if the plans are given the goahead, there will be improvements made to the centre architecturally but the investor’s spokesperson said it was too early to provide details.

A notice of the plans and calls for objections was placed in the North Coast Courier on August 18.

The mall is believed to have been bought in April this year following other unsuccessful applications, one of which was to establish something similar to a China Mall on the property.

It is understood that plans for the medical precinct are still in its early stages.

Following serious financial trouble, the owner of the land on which the mall was developed, AOne Trade and Investment 6 (Pty) Ltd, was placed under business rescue and then liquidation for the past six years.

After losing two of its anchor tenants, Game, Woolworths, and other stores to the new Ballito Junction, the corridors of the mall are nearly empty with a Checkers outlet being the main attraction.

The various parties involved in the development of the Ballito Bay Mall have been in protracted litigation almost since the day it opened its doors in 2010.

DA Ward 22 Councillor Malcolm Hubner welcomed the proposal and said it would be foolish to allow such an opportunity to pass Ballito.

“Councillors receive many phone calls and letters about the eyesore that the mall has become. Many short cuts are thought to have been taken during the construction and it still looks incomplete.

“Ballito is considered to be one of the fastest growing zones in KZN and after the Ballito Junction Regional mall, people have come to expect bigger and better.

“New estates are being developed and the demand for medical services will be on the rise. A medical centre would be perfect, convenient and well suited,” said Hubner.

However, it is believed that there are likely to be objections to some aspects of the precinct.

The trustees at Kingston Estate situated opposite the mall have expressed concern about the proposed psychiatric ward.

It is understood that trustees and individual owners are expected to lodge an objection to that aspect of the development.

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