- The
eagerly awaited Boardwalk Mall grand opening takes place Thursday, 22 September. - The
24 000sqm mall is fully let with an exciting variety of 92 stores. - With
an events arena, cinemas, restaurants and more, it offers unparalleled
entertainment.
The 24 000sqm Boardwalk Mall in Gqeberha is nearly complete
and ready for its grand opening to shoppers on Thursday, 22 September.
Boardwalk Mall
is a major development by Flanagan & Gerard Group and Emfuleni Resorts, a
subsidiary of Sun International (JSE: SUI). The result is the extension and
upgrade of the Boardwalk Precinct around the landmark Boardwalk Casino and
Entertainment World in
Summerstrand.
The new Boardwalk Mall
features 92 stores, 30 of which opened in the first phase in March 2022. The mall is
anchored by the first Checkers, Woolworths Food and Dis-Chem stores in its area.
The offering is complemented by a Pick n Pay and Clicks, plus the latest VIP cinema
upgrade from NuMetro.
Also set to wow Boardwalk
Mall’s shoppers is its new 2 500sqm open arena, the multi-functional
Sunpark events arena, with a big screen, fountain, restaurants spilling out
onto the square, a variety of coffee shops and casual dining experiences, and
the Magic Company gaming arcade. It includes a landscaped children’s play area
with the existing festival lawns area linking Boardwalk Mall and the events
arena.
Paul Gerard,
MD of Flanagan & Gerard, “We are incredibly excited about the opening of Boardwalk
Mall. While we first identified the potential of this development over a decade
ago, it was in early 2019 that we presented a plan to Sun International to
create a dominant high-end convenience centre for Summerstrand that introduced
many major retailers not yet in the area, but for which there was a big demand
from the thriving local community.”
More than
this, its incredible location opposite the Blue Flag Hobie Beach, adjacent to
the 6 000m2 Boardwalk Casino and the 140-room, 5-star Boardwalk Hotel,
also presented a unique opportunity to become the entertainment heart of
Gqeberha. The vision for
Boardwalk Mall is built on offering world-class convenience and entertainment
to the Summerstrand region.
Construction of the
24 000sqm single-level Boardwalk Mall was ready to commence
in February 2020 but was delayed by the pandemic lockdown. Demolition and bulk
earthworks were finally able to get underway from February to April 2021, and
construction began in May 2021.
Anthony Leeming, CEO of Sun International, comments, “The redevelopment of the Boardwalk Mall has
been in the planning for a number of years and despite all the challenges over
the last few years, we are incredibly proud to finally be opening the final
phase of the redeveloped Mall. The Boardwalk Mall promises to bring to
Gqeberha a world-class convenience shopping and entertainment destination which
is sorely missing in the Summerstrand precinct. I would like to thank our
partners in Emfuleni, Zonwabise, and our partners in the mall, Flanagan & Gerard, for making
the redevelopment of the mall a reality.”
Local employment
Giving
substance to the development’s deep commitment to creating local employment and
opportunities, it has created
more than 1 300 jobs during its construction phase. In addition, some 80% of
work on site was completed by local subcontractors using local labour. The
remaining subcontractors also employed local labour.
In addition, the mall
donated building materials, from windows and doors to roof sheeting, to the
local school, Healing Minds. Boardwalk Mall and its management offices
also feature local artists’ work.
Tenants at the new mall
Flanagan & Gerard has earned a
reputation for opening its shopping centres fully let, and Boardwalk Mall is no
exception. Its carefully refined tenant mix is curated for the local market
first and foremost.
This includes a robust athleisure offering
from Sportscene,
Totalsports and Side Step. Health and beauty is another stand-out category,
including Legends Barber, Rain, Red Square, OTG Wellness, The Hair Studio,
Spec-Savers, Execuspecs, Kader’s Barber and Le Rubis Nail Bar.
The Boardwalk Mall also has an
exciting range of unique and different stores, including the quality heritage
fashion of MaXhosa, vintage style from Hombakazi, boutique Obriani and the
bohemian fashion of BoHo girl.
Then, there’s popular fashion from
Legit, Queenspark, Senqu, Pick n Pay Clothing and Ackermans, and accessories
from Lovisa. @Home and Heylo beautifully cater for home and gifting.
Everyday banking and convenient services
include Nedbank, Capitec, ABSA, FNB, Standard Bank, Imali Forex, Postnet and
Foto Fame.
Eating out
Boardwalk Mall’s incredible
meet-and-greet restaurants run by locals for locals include all-day diner,
Hello, It’s Me, the Portuguese hospitality of Bem Vindo, The Granary and Spur. Shoppers are spoiled for choice when it comes
to casual dining and fast food, including Friesland Milk Bar, Paul’s Homemade
Ice-Cream, Paco Taco, Steers, Debonairs Fishaways, Wimpy, Vida E, Urban Roti,
Mochachos, Balkan Burger and Foo Jiu Sushi.
The mall’s design
All this is set in a
spectacular mall designed by MDS Architecture to integrate into the existing Boardwalk
Precinct architecture using a contemporary interpretation of the current style
with design features like the shape of the roofs and an aesthetic of a
refurbished dockside building. Internally, chic industrial elements include
exposed structural details and tactile materials.
Keeping the environment in mind, the mall
reclaimed the landscaping from the original scheme, carefully removing and replanting
trees that have already been growing for a year. It also uses energy-efficient
lighting, incorporates natural wood and concrete materials, and has backup
water solutions.
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Superb accessibility is a key design factor,
highlighted by the pedestrian-friendly connections to the building from Marine
Drive, the hotel and casino. Shoppers can step out onto the beautiful
beachfront promenade directly from the mall. New pedestrian crossings have also
been added to the upgraded roads surrounding Boardwalk Mall to ensure a safe
stroll from the nearby school, university, guest houses, and residents.
The mall has more than 1 000 public
parking bays and provides reserved parking bays for shoppers with special needs
close to its entrances. It has dedicated tenant parking and a taxi drop-off and
pick-up zone.
What to look forward to
There is much to look forward to at
Boardwalk Mall, including its opening celebrations. There will be competitions,
prizes and live entertainment for the whole family, including the choir and
band from a local school, Pearson High School, performing live in the Sunpark
arena.
Boardwalk Mall opens on World Rhino Day
and, in support of Rhino Conservation, it will host Wayne Bolton and his team
from the 2 400km Forever Rhino Ride mountain bike journey from Windhoek,
Namibia, to Gqeberha.
Boks in the Park is another highlight of
the centre’s first weekend of trading. On Saturday, 24 September, the Sunpark arena
will show the Springbok vs Argentina game live on the big screen, from 15:00 to 19:00, providing an excellent opportunity for families and friends to enjoy the
game, and the new shopping centre, together.
