Plans for the construction of a new mall at The Boardwalk are still in place and demolition of the old infrastructure is scheduled to start next month.
This R500 million development, a partnership with Flanagan and Gerard Developers, which will have the majority stake, will see major retailers, new restaurants and even possible drive-through franchises in the vicinity of 2nd Avenue as tenants.
A new hotel will also be built on top of the mall and some of the activities to look forward to include a cycling track at the back of the facility, surrounded by coffee shops where avid cyclists could come together and relax after a few laps around the track.
Children can also look forward to a new and improved Magic Company, with discussions around 3D and 4D games and activities taking place.
General Manager of The Boardwalk, Tati Tsunke, said that the planning process was proceeding very well.
“We are still in discussion regarding timelines, but can say that there is a lot of interest from SMMEs. We haven’t given them an exact date when we are going to start to put up tenders, but April is what we are looking at to start with demolition.”
Tsunke confirmed that the lake at The Boardwalk had already been drained in order for construction to start. The new development will not have a lake, but rather numerous water fountains in a piazza-style architecture.
He also emphasised that the fish had been captured and not harmed in any way during the process of draining the lake.
“We had a company from an environmental point of view that we contracted to help us move the fish and they are safe,” he said.
Tsunke explained that the development would take place in phases, with the first phase focusing on the walkway from the entrance of The Boardwalk from Marine Drive, to the casino and all the way to the entrance of Spur.
The approximate date for the completion of phase one is the last week of November this year, in order to be ready for the summer season.
“We say provisionally, because we’re not allowed to talk about tenants at this stage. There are a lot of lease agreements that are being put together and it is quite exciting.
“It’s new and fresh and the whole first phase will have exciting restaurants and takeaways and we’ll service the beachfront nicely with the traffic that comes through and it fits well with the casino,” he said.
“We are planning for the second phase to open by September next year. That will include the big retailers and there will also be coffee shops. There will be quite a lot of outlets and we are encouraged that it will provide some attraction in the Summerstrand area and the entire Humewood.”
According to Tsunke, although development will take place, the areas of The Boardwalk not affected by the construction, will still be open to the public.
“The Boardwalk Hotel will also be fully operational throughout (the construction period).”
Tsunke also mentioned that the job opportunities would be vast, since the mall would have a variety of big tenants, such as Woolworths, Steers and a couple of new restaurants, for instance.
“In terms of the main job creating retailers, such as Checkers, etc, there will be good opportunities that did not exist in the previous mall, as it was more focused on movies and restaurant outlets, but now we are going much, much bigger. The Pick n Pays, for example, create more numbers than a normal restaurant outlet.
“We are hopeful that the foot traffic that will come through from the beachfront, will generate enough revenue for the tenants for them to be able to employ a lot of locals,” he explained.
“We want this place to be alive; that’s what we’ve been pushing for. We are already seeing good progress so far, even under the difficult circumstances of COVID. The mall will just brighten up and enlighten after 20 years. It will just ignite and renew the old layout.”
He added that they were busy putting together an office which would manage SMMEs and interested parties who wanted to be part of the mall.
