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Fortress REIT to welcome Makro as first tenant at Cornubia Ridge

Makro's 22nd South African store at Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park.
Makro's 22nd South African store at Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park.

Fortress REIT Limited is preparing to welcome Makro as its first tenant at the 28-hectare Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park.

Strategically located close to Durban’s thriving business and residential hub of Umhlanga (as well as King Shaka International Airport and the Dube Tradeport), Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park will host Makro’s 22nd store in South Africa which opens this March and it will be housed in a state-of-the-art 19 000 square meter retail facility which is adjacent to the Gateway precinct which is accessible from all major highways, including the M41 and N2.

The R1 billion development is the joint venture between Fortress REIT Limited and M&F Giuricich Developments.

Konrad Kohler, the Development Manager at Fortress comments:

The Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park is ideally located on the main routes between Durban and the fast-growing Durban North region and is also in close proximity to the Dube Trade port, which has been designated a special economic zone, as well as King Shaka airport … It has great visibility and access to the N2 and all its major feeder roads and the already functioning greater Gateway development.”

Construction on the Makro building (the first to be developed at the new Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park) started in April 2018 and completed in December 2018. The land on which the Cornubia multi-use development is situated was purchased from Tongaat-Hulett by Fortress and M&F Giurcich Developments in 2016. More than 1.2 million cubic meters of soil was moved in order to prepare the three building platforms located on the split-level precinct. Fortress plans to build another 23 000 square meter warehouse on the Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park’s second platform with construction likely to commence in the first quarter of this year. This will leave a further 18 000 square meters of available big box warehouse space which could potentially accommodate a retail component should the need arise. These remaining warehouse developments will boast super-flat, armour-joined FM2 flooring with a 12-ton point load, which provides a sufficiently level surface to accommodate racking that can extend to just below the building’s eaves height of 15 meters.

The location of the Cornubia Logistics Park allowed us to offer tenants a fully customisable logistics solution for the quick distribution of products along all the surrounding key nodes,” said Kohler.

The development of the Cornubia Ridge Logistics Park forms part of a deliberate strategy by Fortress to expand its logistics-focussed asset base to approximately two thirds of its total portfolio by 2020. This rebalancing process is aimed at capitalising on where it sees greater growth opportunities in the foreseeable future.

“Although the domestic economy still faces some strong head winds, we remain cautiously optimistic about the logistics sector,” said Kohler. “There is certainly space for further growth because even in a fairly stagnant economy there is still need for distribution of products.”