Property developers, Abland, recently reported that phase 2 of the Irene Link smart precinct development in Centurion, the Irene Link shopping mall, is close to completion, with the opening date reportedly being 29 September 2022.
The mall will boast Checkers, Woolworths and Dis-chem as anchor tenants, and will also feature the only 200-meter underground shooting range in South Africa. Said Abland MD Jurgens Prinsloo: "At this infrastructure phase, the connectivity of the precinct is planned to link all the functions of the precinct into a smart city with interconnected buildings and security, smart taxi drop-offs and a public WiFi area. We are also designing a Green Star-rated precinct from the ground up and each building on its own is Green Star-rated. This will include backup water and power, with renewable solar energy".
At a time when consumers in South Africa are really starting to feel the economic pinch due to unprecedented fuel prices (to name just one), and when landlords are panicking because commercial and retail vacancies remain high (see our recent article regarding this subject), it is encouraging to see signs that there is still enough economic stimulation and that investors are actively completing projects such as these. One would assume that the developers have done proper market research and that the project will not end up like the much-reported Sharemax-project in Pretoria.
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