The Khayelitsha Retail Centre is the first commercial development project completed by KCT in the Khayelitsha Central Business District (KBD) and our proudest accomplishment to date!

Spanning a total area of 17 225m², the R86.5 million Retail Centre was officially opened by Nomaindia Mfeketo, the previous Mayor of Cape Town, on 24 November 2005.  Originally occupied by 51 retailers, the space had to immediately be expanded due to a high demand for trading space and by June 2006, an additional 2 000m² of retail space had been constructed, bringing the total cost of the development to R110 million.

The Retail Centre boasts a wide variety of tenants and shops where customers can purchase clothes, food and furniture, do their banking, and enjoy a meal at a restaurant – all at one convenient location! The lack of sufficient parking has however become a frustration for shoppers and plans are underway to increase parking facilities at the centre.

Key players

Owned by the Khayelitsha Community Trust (KCT), the Retail Centre was built with loan finance from Rand Merchant Bank.

The centre was built and is operated by KBD Manco (with WBHO as the main building contractor), while FutureGrowth Asset Management is the official developer and Facilities Manager and also handles the centre’s training and management related responsibilities.

KCT has been instrumental in facilitating the direct involvement of local contractors and labourers. As many as 16 local construction companies worked alongside WBHO, the main contractor, in the construction process.

Current state

One of the funding conditions of this project was that at least 70% of the centre’s total occupancy must be by South African National tenants. Most of the trading space earmarked for national tenants has already been secured by Spar, Shoprite, and all four national banks (Nedbank, FNB, ABSA, and Standard Bank).

The Khayelitsha Retail Centre is currently running on an occupation level of 97% and Khayelitsha locals have shown great interest in acquiring space in the centre, with specific marketing processes put in place to meet this demand.