Lynnwood Bridge development will be finalised by next year — Atterbury

PROPERTY developer Atterbury has started construction on the third and final phase of Lynnwood Bridge, its landmark property asset in Pretoria East, the company said yesterday.

The final phase of the development will add a further 15,000m² of offices to the 73,000m² Lynnwood Bridge mixeduse development, which includes offices, retail with a focus on dining, entertaining and lifestyle, a City Lodge hotel and the 400-seat Atterbury Theatre.

“Lynnwood Bridge has been developed in phases to meet market demand,” Atterbury Property Developments MD James Ehlers said.

Lynnwood Bridge currently features 33,000m² of fully-let offices in three prime buildings.

It is home to the company’s head office and has attracted tenancies from corporate heavyweights such as Adams & Adams and Aurecon. The new office buildings would be complete in May next year, comprising two six-floor buildings of 7,500m² each, one of which is already fully let to Aurecon, he said.

Lynnwood Bridge is positioned right next to the newly upgraded Lynnwood exit from the N1 highway, offering access from the main arterial of Lynnwood Road, and Daventry Road.

“Its highly visible and easily accessible location adds to its attractiveness as a leading business location,” Atterbury Property Developments’ project manager for Lynnwood Bridge, Gerrit van den Berg, said.

The company is also expanding its development of Waterfall Business Estate, a 1.6-million-square-metre mixeduse commercial development located between Sandton and Midrand.

The rest of Africa is also in its sights. Last month the group said would develop Namibia’s “largest single commercial property development”, the 54,000m² Mall of Namibia: The Grove, in Windhoek, with Demashuwa Properties and Safland Property Group.

Mr Ehlers said the R1.3bn three-level mall, which will have restaurants, shops and entertainment facilities, would open in September next year.

Atterbury Property Developments retail director Cobus van Heerden said the development had been greeted with enthusiastic retailer interest for its 126 stores, with most South African national retailers already represented in Namibia lining up to trade at The Grove.

The property developer has targeted the rest of Africa over the past two years, having developed a mall in Mauritius in 2011 and acquiring a stake in Ghana’s Accra Mall last year.

Other players making inroads in the African market are Stanlib and Hyprop.

Stanlib will launch its Stanlib Africa Direct Property Development Fund next month or in June to focus on new retail developments in Nigeria and Kenya, where there is still an undersupply of quality retail properties.

Hyprop last year entered into an agreement as a co- investor in Mauritianbased property investment company, Atterbury Africa. “Hyprop’s initial shareholding in Atterbury Africa is 37.5% with a commitment to invest R750m in the fund over the next five years,” the company said last year.

Atterbury Africa’s primary strategy is to develop and own quality shopping centres in Africa.

According to the chief investment officer of Stanlib Direct Property Investments, Amelia Beattie, the fund had earmarked between six and eight developments in Nigeria and Kenya over eight years, and would look to include South African retailers.

“South African retail companies are key relationships that we hold, and we work very closely with them in their expansion strategy,” Ms Beattie said.

“We like to take them with us where we go.”