Prominent Pretoria shopping mall in serious trouble
Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Pretoria is in serious trouble, as the property has lost significant value, and its vacancy rate has shot up to where many shops in the mall are now unoccupied.
Accelerate Property Fund (APF), which bought Cherry Lane in 2013, recently announced that it will sell the property for R54 million.
The centre is located in Brooklyn Circle in Pretoria, near Brooklyn Mall, and was valued at R60 million as of 31 March 2024.
APF announced on 9 October that it entered into a sale of letting enterprise agreement with Bellerose Investments and Scarlet Sky Investments to dispose of Cherry Lane.
This sale comes after several failed attempts to sell Cherry Lane, with numerous sales having been called off.
APF has had significant trouble selling the mall. In 2023, it tried to sell the centre for R65 million when it was valued at around R70 million. It tried again in March 2024, but that deal also fell through.
More recently, in June this year, the company said it would be selling the mall to QSPACE for R57 million.
However, this sale also fell through, with no explanation given for why. However, APF said it is in discussion with several other potential purchasers regarding the property.
These discussions appeared to have borne fruit, as Bellerose and Scarlet Sky Investments are now set to purchase the mall, with each purchaser acquiring a 50% undivided share.
APF said the proceeds of the sale will be used to reduce its debt and reinvest in its core property portfolio.
“This decision was made as part of Accelerate’s ongoing efforts to review its assets and ensure that they align with the company’s current business strategy and growth plans,” it said.

APF’s announcement of the sale also included details about Cherry Lane’s performance, which paints a troubling picture of the property.
The mall’s gross lettable area (GLA) is 11,429 m², which puts it decisively on the smaller end of the scale.
It achieves a weighted average rent of R43.77/m² and a net property income of R3.59 million.
However, arguably the most troubling statistic is its vacancy rate, which stands at 52.3%.
A high vacancy rate in a mall can be detrimental to the property, as it can translate into lost revenue, decreased foot traffic, and difficulty attracting new tenants.
For comparison, we can look at Fourways Mall, the largest mall in the country, which is also owned by APF and showing troubling signs.
Fourways Mall has a GLA of 178,000 m² and around 437 stores. However, the mall also has a significantly high vacancy rate of 15.90%.
It is notable that, while this figure is worrying, it is still lower than Cherry Lane’s vacancy rate.
The mall’s fair value shows its decline over the past few years. In 2014, APF acquired the mall for R80.5 million.
After its acquisition, the mall’s value grew rapidly, reaching a peak of R122.45 million in 2018.
However, in 2020, the mall’s value started to decline year after year, likely due to the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns. In 2024, Cherry Lane was valued at just R60 million.
This has also translated into lower net rental income for Cherry Lane, which used to rake in R83 per square meter in 2014.
However, when the Covid-19 pandemic came in 2020, the mall’s net rental income fell to R42 per m².
While there has been a slight recovery since 2020, the mall has yet to return to its peak of R84 in 2018.
APF’s integrated report for 2024 did not provide Cherry Lane’s net rental income but noted that its gross rental income was R132/m².
Year | Net rental income per m² (R) | Fair value (R) |
2014 | 82.8 | 80,500,000 |
2015 | 75.1 | 110,714,885 |
2016 | 80.03 | 101,907,670 |
2017 | 84.23 | 117,456,273 |
2018 | 84 | 122,446,274 |
2019 | 74 | 101,100,000 |
2020 | 42 | 105,246,030 |
2021 | 58 | 85,500,000 |
2022 | 49 | 70,071,181 |
2023 | 47 | 65,000,000 |
2024 | N/A | 60,000,000 |
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