Future of ‘white elephant’ mall still up in the air

Ten years later and there is still no clarity on when – or even if – the enormous “ghost” mall at the corner of Delmas Road and De Villebois Mareuil Drive would get off the ground.

“As far as I know, a civil lawsuit in respect of the shareholding of the uncompleted and deserted Villa Mall is currently frustrating the future of this project,” local ward councillor Daryl Johnston told Rekord.

The mall, situated on a 130 000sq/m piece of land, was supposed to have opened back in 2011.

Instead, construction work was halted the year before.

Residents were looking forward to shop at the 300 upmarket shops including an Italian fashion house and a five-star hotel where 78 houses were demolished to make way for the mall.

Johnston said many of those high-end luxury brands had now found rental space elsewhere.

“The land across the mall belongs to the same developer, namely Capicol. The idea was to create a spectacular shopping experience, which included a sky bridge over De Villebois Mareuil Drive.”

“The Nova Property Group had been the rescue vehicle in terms of ownership of the development, although Capicol still holds shares,” Johnston said.

In July last year, the property group said at a meeting between Johnston and the group’s CEO and chairman that they had procured an investor interested in completing the project within the next three years.

They also said that the entire mall would not be used for retail purposes only, due to the existing oversupply of retail space in the area.

Johnston confirmed then that the property group submitted a certificate from an engineer stating that the building was structurally sound.

Although only 75% of the building was completed, 100% of the primary structure was completed.

He said the building was at an advanced stage when work was halted.

“It had full electrical reticulation, shop fronts were being installed and escalators had been delivered and lifted onto various floors.”

He said that whatever purposes the group planned to use the building for, it would have to comply with the municipality’s zoning regulations.

Johnston said that the building was recently valued at R1.2-billion and R600-million respectively, according to information supplied to him.

“As far as I’m concerned, this building isn’t worth anything at the moment really. One needs about R2-billion to complete the building, and only then can it serve a purpose and be worth something,” he said.

“That’s the crux of the matter: an enormous amount of money needs to be invested before any money can be generated from it.

“There have been ideas on the table before, such as turning it into a hospital or university, but that is not practical. A hospital, for instance, needs to be built from the start, a mall simply cannot be converted into a hospital.”

Johnston said at the moment, the sight of the unfinished mall only contributed to a negative perception of the city, as it was the first thing that visitors entering from the south-east saw.

What greatly concerns the municipality, Johnston said, was the upgrading of roads that formed part of the Villa mall project.

“The developer must upgrade the dam road, and create roads consisting of double lanes in both directions, from the Delmas Road to the highway, and the road from De Villebois Mareuil to Garsfontein Road at Woodlands.”

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He said a developer was supposed to have upgraded De Villebois Mareuil to a dual carriageway from Delmas Road to Wekker Road as long ago as 1995, but neglected to do so.

Chairman of the Lyttelton sector 4 CPF, James Manner-Wood, said that they had encountered the usual problems of vagrants sleeping in the area and people dumping rubbish in the area.

“There was no reported crime issues at the mall as such,” he said.

“It is probably the most secure construction site in Pretoria, since the construction company, GD Irons, placed security guards on the premises.”

When contacted by Rekord, the Nova property group indicated it had no further information available regarding the mall.

Developer Capicol had yet to respond to requests for comment.

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