Spear REIT Limited has completed the R50 million addition to its 3 Star Green Rated convenience retail centre, Sable Square.
Situated in close proximity to Century City in Cape Town, the 3 431 meters squared of additions were in the form of 1 750 meters squared of A-Grade office space and a new 1 681 meters squared gym facility for national gym operator, Zone Fitness.
Managing Director of Spear Quintin Rossi notes that “since the acquisition of Sable Square we were alive to the fact that we had an incredible opportunity to unlock further value on the asset and in effect commence with a renaissance of Sable Square into a mixed-use precinct with a more balanced mix of national retailers and A-grade office users. Spear anticipates investing a further R 300 – 400 million on additions to the property with plans to add further retail opportunities along with 130 – 200 residential units to the precinct over the next 18-24 months subject to local authority approvals”.
Situated in a highly desirable public transportation zone and within close proximity to all forms of public transportation, Sable Square currently consists of 30 934 meters squared of lettable area made up of 16 863 meters squared of retail area situated on the ground floor of the centre and 11 237 meters squared of office area situated over the first and second floor areas of the centre.
Sable Square also offers a self-storage solution (2 345 meters squared) via its tenant Storesmart which operates as an independent self-storage business and given the prime location of the centre has been a very popular location for storage customers. Sable Square offers a very high parking ratio to both retail shoppers and office users and has been a major draw card for the centre over the years and has allowed Spear to unlock value without the need to add additional parking bays to the centre.
Sable Square Centre Manager Marius Heydenreich says “with the expansion of the Clicks store and the addition of Pick n Pay Clothing and Tekkie Town to the retail tenant mix of Sable Square over the last twelve months a notable increase has been seen in the footfall of the centre and the bulk of our tenants are reporting positive turnover growth in a very challenging economic climate”.
Spear REIT Leasing Manager James Bylos says “Sable Square is excellently positioned to take advantage of the demand for high quality retail and office space given the location of the property and the highly competitive and attractive asking rentals on the various leasing opportunities available”. Bylos further notes that due to continuous demand from retailers to have a presence in Sable Square, no current retail vacancies exist at the centre but Spear is able to offer tailor made leasing solutions to tenants that require A-Grade office accommodation with a higher than average parking requirement.
Rossi concludes that the success achieved to date at Sable Square in a tough trading environment has been made possible largely by having a dedicated team of professionals and a very hands on approach to construction, property and asset management resulting in cost and design optimisation whilst achieving a satisfactory development return. One of the fundamental values of Spear is to unlock value for its shareholders that translates into consistent distribution growth. Spear will continue to unlock organic growth within the underlying portfolio as management focus on both organic an acquisitive growth in 2018 and beyond.