Langa Junction

R60m shopping centre to be built at Langa station

 

Photo By GroundUp

Published Jul 24, 2014

Roy Cokayne

Langa, one of the busiest train stations in Cape Town, is to get a new R60 million shopping centre that aims to cater for about 45 000 commuters who use the station daily.

The new 5 000m2 project is being developed by Nu-Way Housing Developments and sister company Krisp Properties. Ground was broken earlier this month on the site for the new centre, which is scheduled to open in February.

About 100 jobs will be created during the construction phase and 200 permanent jobs will be created once the centre opens.

It will be the newest commuter-based retail development in the country and forms part of the extensive recent urban upgrade of the Langa station and its surrounds by the City of Cape Town.

Architect Boets Smuts of Smuts & De Kock Architects said the development of the centre and the upgrading of the area by the city went hand-in-hand. “It will be the first convenience shopping centre for Langa. There is a need for centres like this so people don’t need to take a train to town to do their shopping. Convenience centres are rising in townships all over South Africa,” he said.

One of the country’s leading food retailers has been secured as the anchor tenant of the centre, which will have 11 other stores, two ATMs and eight smaller spaces of about 15m2, specifically aimed at entrepreneurs and small, medium and micro enterprises.

Jordan Mann, an executive director of Krisp Properties and Nu-Way Housing, said the newly built overhead commuter bridge linking Langa Junction with the station and the Epping industrial area meant a high volume of foot traffic for the centre.

Mann said the plan was for the centre to be a hub for public transport commuters.

“The railway has been upgraded into a modern transit station, which serves commuters very well.

“We are creating a shopping experience for commuters and residents in the area. We are also addressing a major need for retail in the area. The community and retailers have been very keen for us to get this centre up and running,” he said.

The developer’s presence in the area spans back to the early 2000s when Nu-Way developed 300 housing stands in the community.

Mann said the town planning for the shopping centre was completed at the time and it was always their intention to put a shopping centre in Langa.

It had also earmarked adjacent land for the future growth of the shopping centre, he said.