Half of the land provided to Harare businessman Kenneth Sharpe’s West Property Group for the construction of a $100 million Mall of Zimbabwe, in the green suburb of Borrowdale was unsuitable for property development since it was a wetland.
The Harare City Council and a local private company partnered on the initiative, with McCormick Property Developers, a South African company with a vast amount of experience in constructing major complexes in Africa, taking on the responsibility of carrying out the actual construction.
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Around 9,7 hectares of the 18,34 hectares of the land on Ashbrittle Vlei can be used for the establishment of property, but even then, significant objections have been raised to this claim, which the authorities maintain has scientific backing.
With the historic development, Zimbabwe would have the largest commercial development in all of Africa, as well as the largest shopping centre when it is completed (92 000 square metres), making it the second country in the region after South Africa to boast such a development.
According to the developers, well-known South African retail juggernauts including Shoprite Edgars, Truworths, Game, and Mr. Price have already occupied 75% of the mall’s available space.
Reported on June 17, 2014
Construction of the Mall of Zimbabwe set to start in May
South African property developers McCormick Property Development (MPD) is developing a regional and first of its kind Mall of Zimbabwe in Harare. Construction of West Properties’ $100 million Mall of Zimbabwe in the plush Borrowdale suburb of Harare is expected to start anytime after May. With the completion of a tender process expected to start early next month, West Group CEO Ken Sharpe said adding the property division of the diversified group plans to move on the construction site of the multi-million-dollar property in the Borrowdale area next month to start work. West Properties will construct a 68 000sqm mall, office parks, cluster homes, a school and medical facilities.
The Mall of Zimbabwe will be the country’s first fully enclosed regional mall with some of South Africa’s national retailers and brands including Checkers, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, The Foschini Group, Edcon, Pepkor, Truworths, Famous Brands and the Spur Group lining up to trade at the new mall. MPD managing director Jason McCormick says MPD in a joint venture with Augur Investments, who were the original owners of the site where the mall is being built is the developer of the Mall of Zimbabwe and the mall will be owned by both entities.
