Texton secures Truworths for prime Durban CBD space
Texton Property Fund has secured a long-term lease renewal with Truworths for its prominent high street shop in central Durban, KwaZulu-Natal - one of the group’s biggest stores in South Africa.
Truworths has renewed its lease over 5,000sqm of retail space in a six-storey mixed-use building acquired by Texton in 2015.
The 11,200sqm property comprises four floors of retail space anchored by Truworths, OK Furniture, Cell C and Bargain Basket. Its top two floors are used for offices and storage.
The Truworths store is superbly located with its shopfront on the busy Dr Pixley KaSeme Street (formerly West Street) - bounded by Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street, Joe Slovo and Anton Lembede Streets – in the heart of the Durban CBD ‘Golden Mile’.
Marius Muller, CEO of Texton Property Fund, comments, “We are pleased to extend our relationship with Truworths for its Durban city store. The property offers Truworths the key advantages of being well situated with high exposure to consumers, which supports its good trading in a well-maintained property with fair lease terms.”
The property is in a desirable retail location, which enjoys robust national retailer demand because of its substantial volumes of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. It is close to commuter networks in a high growth node which has seen plenty of rejuvenation and reinvestment in the buildings immediately surrounding it, including several residential conversions.
Muller adds, “This long-term lease renewal with Truworths is consistent with Texton’s sharp focus on retaining tenants and attracting new clients. In South Africa’s extremely competitive property market, Texton is employing aggressive leasing strategies that incentivise both tenants and brokers.”
The Truworths deal is one of several leasing triumphs recently achieved by Texton in South Africa.
In the final quarter of 2018, Texton leased more than 31,000sqm of space in 25 deals. Most contracts were signed for terms of one to three years, positioning Texton to benefit rapidly from any future upside in the local property market. The average annual contractual escalation of these leases is 8%.
Muller reports that Texton has also experienced good uptake of space at its newly refurbished Bryanston Gate, including a high level of tenant retention. Furthermore, the REIT recently renewed the Department of Public Works in more than 25,400sqm at the Foretrust buildings and 14 Loop Street in Cape Town.
“Texton is driven to build on our property strengths, ensure our assets remain relevant and attractive, and be a very competitive player in this persistently tough market,” says Muller. “We will continue to seek and add value for all our stakeholders.”