Prospective tenants line up for Lobatse's new P106m mall

Mbongeni Mguni | Tuesday February 11, 2020 17:51

 

PrimeTime shareholders are due to vote on the deal at an Extraordinary General Meeting on February 26, 2020.

In a circular to shareholders, PrimeTime said of the 8,768 square metres of area available in the project known as Lobatse Junction Mall, signed leases and offer letters for 73% of the space had already been finalised. Prospective tenants include Spar, Botswana Life, BBS, Ackermans, PEP, Jet, Clicks and Bradlows.

The deal will be funded through the raising of debt and the company’s bond programme.

The mall will be built at Lobatse’s main bus terminal, which shall be incorporated into the property with a footbridge offering a pedestrian crossing to the train station. PrimeTime directors said the project had a guaranteed net return of eight percent in its first year, rising every year from then on due to rental escalations built into the lease agreements.

The directors said Lobatse had a population of 30,000 with a steady stream of traffic passing through the location, while no new shopping centres had been built in the border town for over 15 years.

The existing retail space was concentrated in a few small malls, standalone units and traditional high street retail, they said, adding that these existing offerings were therefore generally dated with tenants holding onto premises due to a lack of other options in the market.