Alley Roads (or “the Group”), a leading affordable housing developer, today confirmed that the construction of its Riverstone Mall has been completed, with occupational handover to tenants being finalised before the mall’s opening at the end of March.
Ivan Pretorius, founder and CEO of Alley Roads commented: “We are very excited to have reached this important milestone. With tenant fit outs currently nearing completion, we are on track to officially open Riverstone Mall on Thursday, 27 March this year, bringing exciting brands and a different kind of shopper experience to Meyerton.”
Pretorius confirmed that during the construction phase, the mall created 1 200 jobs, with an estimated 250 permanent jobs, once trading commences.
On opening, the convenience mall with a gross lettable area (GLA) of 20,000m² will boast approximately 53 retail tenants, anchored by Checkers Fresh-X, Woolworths Food and Dischem. Other retailers include Clicks, Truworths, Mr Price and the Pepkor Group among others.
It will offer 1 000 parking bays, a food court as well as two fast food drive-thru outlets.
Riverstone Mall forms part of Alley Roads’ 175 000m2 development pipeline earmarked for underserved township and peri-urban areas across South Africa.
Pretorius explained that Alley Roads’ business strategy is premised on building communities that prosper. Affordable housing and retail developments are some of the important drivers required to establish these new nodes.
“Initial market studies show that Meyerton, centrally located between Johannesburg and the Vaal Triangle, is growing at 2% to 3% annually, and the area plays a catalytic role within the R59 development corridor.
“As part of our strategy to leverage the symbiotic relationship between housing and retail we have launched a residential development adjacent to the mall, comprising 337 units. There is also a second development phase planned at Riverstone Mall, comprising 3,000sqm of motor related retail.
“On completion, our total investment into the Meyerton community will exceed R600 million,” Pretorius added.
The Group recently announced that in the past 12 months, it has developed over 1 000 fully off-grid apartments over seven developments, creating a stable power source for tenants at a predictable cost, as well as ensuring stable annuity income for its funders.
Pretorius said the Group will roll out its 175 000m2 retail development pipeline over the next seven years mainly in Gauteng with opportunities in the North West, Free State and the Western Cape. Alley Roads will develop rural convenience retail centres measuring between 6,000m2 to 12,000m2.
