South Coast Mall to go on sale

South Coast Mall, situated on the lower south coast servicing the communities between Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal, opened in 2005 after development costs of approximately R205 million. The sale is expected to set a new record for the KwaZulu-Natal region for Auction Alliance.

Nicole Greenstone, Johannesburg regional executive at Hyprop said: "We want to apply our resources where they are most needed. The property is difficult to manage from Johannesburg."

There was no office in KwaZulu-Natal, nor any other assets to manage according to Greenstone.

"We are looking to exit non-key assets. The South Coast Shopping Mall sits outside of the strategic focus of Hyprop."

She said the move was in keeping with other strategic actions such as the withdrawal from The Grace Hotel and once Hyprop's intention to exit ownership of the mall was clear, Redefine decided to join in and sell.

Greenstone said that the decision to auction the property was at the suggestion of Redefine which had worked with Auction Alliance prior to this. The motivation behind an auction route was a result of limited access to the clients and a belief that greater exposure would be achieved.

"This is not to say that we will auction. We actually hope to sell before the date. However, we will only sell for a satisfactory price and if we don't get it we will continue to hold onto the property."

Greenstone said that she wanted her team to be fully focussed on projects closer to their larger positions such as the re-development of The Mall of Rosebank.