By Correspondent
In the 90s Old Mutual took an initiative to build shopping malls as an investment scheme.
Two prominent malls built include Eastgate Mall in Harare and Nkulumane Mall in Bulawayo.
However, both have slowly become white elephants as tenants have shifted away leaving most rooms unoccupied.
It’s a trend that has affected most property firms across the country.
A trend analysis of property stocks — including those held by First Mutual Properties (FMP), Old Mutual, Zimre Property Investments (ZPI) and Mashonaland Holdings is disturbing.
It shows that commercial properties in the CBD have been underperforming as demand has been skewed towards residential developments.
The Bulawayo City Council has actually been urged owners of Entumbane Mall and Nkulumane, to reduce their rental prices.
Nkulumane Mall
The Nkulumane Mall, used to be part of the city’s council strategy to decongest the city centre in the 1990s.
However, it has become a pale shadow of its former self, with most of the shops in the area unoccupied.
At its prime, it used to house giant retail shops in the country while several banks were also housed there.
But the de-industrialisation that hit the city after 2005 resulted in most shops closing down.
Meanwhile others actually relocated to the city centre.
Eastgate Mall
The same happened with Eastgate in Harare.
Situated at corner Robert Mugabe and Sam Nujoma street, it was once a thriving hive of business and activity.
It was also celebrated as one of Zimbabwe’s few “Green buildings”.
It was modelled after termite mounds common in the country b architect Mick Pearce in collaboration with Arup engineers.
The building is actually considered Mick Pearce’s seminal project as it went on to greatly influence his other works.
However all that ingenuity has gone to waste as the economic situation in the country has pushed away customers who used to lease there.
Many now opt for the latest phenomena of large buildings, dissected into smaller rooms and labelled Malls in Harare’s CBD.
Meanwhile Old Mutual has essentially abandoned the Eastgate Mall and created the Eastgate Market adjacent.
The Eastgate Market, connected to the Mall through a bridge, has lower charges.
Old Mutual Group Chief Operating Officer Isiah Mashinya has said the complex will be a game-changer in the country’s SME sector.
“The Eastgate Market has different sections which accommodate different lines of businesses and accordingly, different rentals will apply.
“Retail shops will be pegged at between $25 and $40 per square metre/per month depending on size and physical location on the mall.
“Office space which is on the mezzanine floor of the building is being leased out at between $8 and $12 per square metre.
Any Redemption?
While the situation is still bleak for Eastgate in Harare, Bulawayo’s Nkulumane Mall has a ray of hope.
A South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman Mpumelelo Phiri has poured in an investment of US$1,7 million in the retail business in Bulawayo.
He reportedly is targeting utilizing the expansive Nkulumane Mall and that may restore some lost lustre.
Phiri who runs Ngamla Enterprises, is set to open a supermarket and wholesale shop at Nkulumane Shopping Mall soon.
Meanwhile analysts feel the abandonment of real Malls for commercial building bisected into small shops is dangerous in the long run.
Percy Toriro a Town Planner says if care is not taken, extensive shopping malls may lead to the decay of the CBD.
“Some cities, including Johannesburg, have ended up with precincts that are referred to as ghost areas.
They have empty buildings left by businesses that relocated to suburban malls,” he says.
