The Pavilion in Bredasdorp is open for business.
The new R120 million The Pavilion retail centre is in operation in the main street of Bredasdorp, on the site of the former showgrounds at the southern end of the town.
The Pavilion was developed by Asrin Property Developers in joint venture with Harry Viljoen Properties.
The new centre was designed by Cape architects, Smith & Smith, in a style appropriate to the Overberg wheatlands and sheep pastures, says Ishmail Essa, chief executive of Asrin Property Developers. It has 10 800m² of retail space and a small office space section in two circular three storey towers rising from the main building. The centre has free basement parking for some 400 vehicles and open parking for a further 200 cars, and large tracts of surrounding garden are planted with indigenous flowers and shrubs.
Essa says an active letting campaign resulted in 96% of the available space being taken up by the official opening day on June 24.
“From an early stage, it was clear that Checkers would take about 3 000m² of floor area and that this would be one of its Blueline stores, with a butchery, a bakery, a delicatessen, wine stocks, hardware and a variety of other goods, very attractively presented.”
Also now occupying space in The Pavilion are Markhams, Crazy Store, Clicks, Totalsports, Tekkietown, Cape-Agri (which supplies general goods appropriate to a farming lifestyle), Wimpy and other fast food/coffee outlets, such as Chicken City.
“With the present subdivision there is space for 27 line shops, which have average rentals of R150/m², and the few tenancy gaps will all be filled in the next few weeks, and will include a Spur Steak Ranch.”
The flat roofed centre has a central mall, most of which is open to the sky but the enclosed spaces are all air-conditioned. The shopfronts are glass and aluminium and most face inwards but seven small retail outlets in a separate section give a village feel to the giant complex.
Essa says Asrin realised some time ago that commercial development opportunities in Cape Town were not promising in the downturn and looked to the rural areas. Bredasdorp, which has grown exponentially in the last decade, was obviously in need of a bigger and more sophisticated retail complex and the recently completed building will serve the area comprehensively for many years to come before further developments will be needed. Arniston, Struisbaai, Napier and other surrounding towns’ residents are all using The Pavilion.
The construction work on the complex was undertaken by Asrin under the leadership of development director, Shiraz Onia. Marius Ehlers was the independent project manager of the nine month development, the consulting civil, structural and mechanical engineers were LSM, and SVR Quantity Surveyors handled this aspect of the work. The project was completed on schedule and on budget.
Call Shiraz Onia at Asrin on 021 713 3012 or email sonia@asrin.co.za.
