Property development and investment specialists, Flanagan and Gerard, have appointed Spire Property Management to handle all of the management administration for two retail centres currently under development.
Spire will be handling the full administrative role for the Thavhani Mall, which is situated in Thohoyandou and is jointly owned by Flanagan and Gerard and Thavhani Property Investments, as well as the Springs Mall, which is a joint venture between Giuricich Bros Group, Blue Crane Eco Mall, Flanagan & Gerard and JSE-listed Vukile Property Fund.
Sean Paul, Executive Director of Spire, explains that Springs Mall, a R950 million development which is due for completion by March 2017, will be a 52,000m² regional mall servicing the greater Springs area. “The centre will span over two levels of retail and is set to become a landmark retail offering that serves the region’s consumers with a top quality shopping experience.”
Paul goes on to say that anchor tenants signed up include Pick n Pay, Checkers, Woolworths and Edgars. “Other major national retailers that are part of the tenant mix at the new Springs Mall include the Foschini Group, Truworths, Mr Price, HiFi Corporation, Clicks, Dis-Chem, Incredible Connection and more, with leasing progressing according to plan.”
The Thavhani Mall when completed in the 3rd quarter of 2017 will be a 50 000m² regional shopping mall which lies on the R524 which links Louis Trichardt to Giyani and Pafuri. “Thavhani Mall will be anchored by the likes of Woolworths Food, Pick n Pay, Spar and Edgars,” says Paul. “We are also well on track in terms of tenant lease negotiations and agreements.”
Gregg Huntingford, CEO of Spire notes that a key focus of Flanagan and Gerard is to develop and invest in dominant regional shopping centres. “By outsourcing the management administration to Spire, Flanagan and Gerard free themselves up to focus on all of the other aspects of the shopping centre development process.”
“Spire’s role with regards to these two centres encompasses finalizing lease agreements with the tenants, addressing financial aspects, with strong focus on debtors and creditors management, with full management reporting to the owners – all of which is made possible through MRI, our state-of-the management reporting technology. This US developed property and asset management system enables our team to administer properties more effectively, providing owners with comprehensive reporting on their income and expenses and allows Spire to analyse the performance of their clients properties.”
Huntingford explains that MRI employs a ’slice and dice’ database structure to enable a high level of analysis of property management indicators. “Information such as lease renewal, vacancy per building and tailor-made owner statements can be prepared within minutes. Rentals and recoveries are collected efficiently, and late payments are vigorously pursued. Forecasts are drawn up, expenses are paid, and variances are shown. Monthly reports inform our clients about income, expenses and key performance areas of their properties and private clients with bigger property portfolios enjoy the high level of analysis of property management indicators provided by Spire.”
“We are pleased and proud to be associated with these two retail centres. We remain steadfast in our goal to provide good service and value-add to our clients. We look forward to an exciting journey with our new clients,” conclude Huntingford and Paul.
