Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Hammer to fall on Western Cape retail centres
Five Shoprite buildings will be sold on auction this month as part of company’s review and restructuring of its property portfolio
SHOPRITE Holdings has just completed a review of its property portfolio and, as part of its restructure, on September 12 it will auction small noncore retail centres, all with anchor tenant leases to be concluded at the time of transfer following their sale by High Street Auctions (HSA).
Anchor tenants in these centres are Shoprite stores, Shoprite Liquor Stores or U-Save stores.
Lance Chalwin-Milton, joint managing director of HSA, says this portfolio auction indicates there is no loss in market appetite for retail centres.
“In just about every auction High Street has conducted since the beginning of last year we’ve had at least one, and frequently more, retail offerings in our catalogues. Prior to this, retail centres were like hen’s teeth.”
The seven Shoprite retail properties that will go under the hammer are spread across three provinces, with five of them in the Western Cape.
The Shoprite corporate disposal lots in the Western Cape are:
• The street-facing Shopite Centre in Voortrekker Road in Bellville. The centre covers about 5 500m², and falls within the footprint of the area’s active City Improvement District.
• The retail centre further along Voortrekker Road in Parow. This one houses a Shoprite, a Shoprite Liquor Store and a Hungry Lion among other tenants. The centre has a GLA of 4 660m².
• The free-standing Shoprite supermarket in Victoria Road, Woodstock. The property has a GLA of 1 122m².
• The Shoprite property at 11 Abegglen Street in central Strand. It is one of the busiest supermarkets in the small coastal hub, with a GLA of 2 517m².
• The free-standing Shoprite supermarket on the corner of Main and Market streets in Vredenburg acts as the main retail grocery store for the town. The property has a GLA of 2 287m². Moving across the country, the remaining Shoprite retail offerings to be auctioned are:
• The Shoprite Centre at the corner of Rietbok Street and Ben Alberts Way in Kathu in the Northern Cape. Kathu is a bustling mining town, home to one of the five largest open-cast ironore mining operations in the world. The portion of the centre owned by Shoprite has a GLA of 4 148m².
• The Shoprite U-Save at 31 Brand Street in Kroonstad in the Free State. The building has a gross lettable area of 1 711m².
HSA lead auctioneer and director Joff van Reenen says corporate asset adjustment occurs through all economic cycles.
“Asset registers are assessed frequently for surpluses or redundancies and, especially in economic downturns, the speed at which a property can be sold at auction is something corporates find very attractive.
“The sales model also serves their needs because once the hammer falls, it is standard for the full purchase price to be paid within a month. The transparency, agility and speed are a transactional triangle that works for boards and shareholders.
“Buyers also benefit because they can acquire assets at fair market value as determined by demand on the day, and there are frequently exceptionally good deals to be found.”
Chalwin-Milton says the Western Cape Shoprite portfolio of five retail centres in the September sale has also set in motion the first of what will become regular features of HSA auction days – dual sales rooms in Joburg and Cape Town.
The auction, which starts at noon on September 12, will be live-streamed to the Table Bay Hotel in the V&A Waterfront, and registered bidders at the central High Street Auctions venues will be able to call on the experience of HSA’s professional staff to ensure their bids are relayed to the auctioneer timeously and concisely.
For more details about the Shoprite properties and other premium multi-property lots that will be going under the hammer, see www.highstreetauctions.com.