CHRIS GILMOUR: Repurposing SA’s retail spaces will require finesse and originality
SA cannot buck this global downsizing trend in a post-Covid-19 world
SA is a nation of shoppers. According to the SA Council of Shopping Centres, the country had the sixth-largest number of shopping centres in the world in 2017, which is quite an achievement for a small economy at the tip of Africa.
But that may prove to be problematic for property developers as the full effect of the current pandemic and the associated sustained low growth economic outlook takes hold. Rebuilding shopping malls as residential or office space, or both, referred to as “repurposing”, would appear to be the obvious solution to retail overcapacity. That works well in a thriving economy but in a moribund economy such as SA’s, it is difficult. ..
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