It has six anchor retailers – the new Checkers, Woolworths, Edgars and Game and its existing Pick n Pay and Dis-Chem – positioned to serve the large cross-section of shoppers. This gives it a dominant position and super-regional pull.
Scheduled to open on 23 March 2017, Menlyn Maine Investment Holdings and Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment own and developed the mall as a consortium. It was an intricate development because of the layout of the land it is built upon.
“It takes a unique vision to transform the complexity of this project into an opportunity that both harnesses and enhances its surroundings to create an unmatched platform for a shopping and leisure experience,” says Carl Jankowitz, director at Menlyn Maine.
The Ballito Junction Urban Eatery is perhaps the most distinct example of the mall’s vision. Going beyond the neon-lit and brashly coloured food courts found in malls worldwide, it opens up a new world of sensory experiences in a different setting.
Its innovative design, by award-winning MDS Architecture, creates a sense of openness, with fresh, airy spaces dappled in natural light from above and around it. The magnificent area features exposed raw wood in elements, such as roof trusses.
The restaurant node within the Urban Eatery expresses the ethos of openness beautifully. Its full-frontage window view has very few line-of-sight barriers to contend with, with no shopfronts, very few walls and each shop’s security and doors mostly invisible to patrons. From its six-metre-high feature window, it looks out to the north over the undeveloped green parklands of Simbithi Eco-Estate and beyond that, on a clear day, to the Indian Ocean.
“It is packed with new names, unique attractions, retail firsts for its region and flagship offerings,” reports Pat Flanagan, co-chairman of Flanagan & Gerard.
This includes Turn ‘n Tender, Tasha’s, Spur, Casa Bella, RocoMamas, Wimpy, a new look KFC, Chicken Licken, Simply Asia, Fishaways, Milky Lane, Mugg & Bean and M&B On-The-Go, Debonairs, and Jooma Coffee. Visitors can also look forward to Beluga, complete with a wrap-around wine bar and the first Beluga Pan Asia, as well as Piccadeli and Mama G’s, which are already part of the centre.
Added to this is healthy food from Tree Natural Concepts and Exclusive Books coffee shop inside its flagship store, as well as Woolies Café. The café is part of the 6,500sqm Woolworths store, which spans two levels. It offers front-row seats to the most spectacular views from a sweeping 12-metre-tall exterior glass window.
Urban Eatery also features a DJ booth, inside a shipping container, for live broadcasts and special events. Interactive large screens will broadcast the sports and cultural highlights of the day to Urban Eatery patrons.
“In the same way that Urban Eatery takes the mall food court to new heights, Ballito Junction takes movies far beyond the average cinema experience,” notes Jankowitz.
The state-of-the-art Nu Metro cinema includes a Scene Xtreme cinema, which has a wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling screen and the latest in cinema audio technology. There are two Scene VIP cinemas, complete with a lounge/dining area where one can order hot/cold drinks and freshly prepared meals served in the lounge or to one’s seat plus five regular 2D and 3D cinemas.
The new 22 Jump Street, a huge trampoline park, offers unlimited fun for the family, adding climbing-walls, dodgeball and a viewing area. It adds fun and games with Games for U, Toys R Us, Sweets from Heaven and Matrix Warehouse.
