Our Approach
A holistic approach to commercial property
Nova Properties owns 24 property owning subsidiaries. One of the subsidiaries is Geo Sphere Developments Pty Ltd, which in turn owns 4 property owning subsidiaries.
In addition, Nova Properties owns Enzi Construction Pty Ltd, its own in-house construction company.
In the commercial property space, Nova Properties aims to consistently rejuvenate and maintain its portfolio of assets in order to attract a tenant mix that is both relevant for the location and long-lived, in order to create stable, yet outstanding consumer experiences for the communities that are served by them. This is enabled by its strong, experienced management team. An external contracted service provider provide accounting, finance, tax and legal, stakeholder administration and communication and contracted property management and leasing resources.
External contracted service providers in turn provide comprehensive property management services, which include, but are not limited to, the management and control of income, expenses, arrears, vacancies, facilities management, soft services, property maintenance and financial management. Supplementary services include broking (leasing and sales) and project management (new developments, redevelopments, and refurbishments).
Broadly speaking, these service providers focus on reducing tenant vacancies to maximise capital growth for Nova Properties. Under-performing tenants are actively reduced, while each property’s tenant mix is analysed to optimise trading density and growth. Indicators like ‘spend-per-head’ and ‘feet through the door’ are monitored as reflections of trading density, which shows year-on-year improvement across the portfolio.
Working cohesively these external service providers resources, combined with management and industry expertise at Group level, facilitate and enable upfront planning of asset redevelopment. This long-term planning, as an enabler for reducing tenant vacancies by enhancing the value proposition and reducing the impact of redevelopment, contributes directly to the Group’s bottom-line.
Nova Properties’ focus on ongoing redevelopment and property enhancements also contribute to addressing vacancies by virtue of the process being fast-tracked from the planning stage, to bringing funding partners on board, to leveraging long-term relationships with professionals, such as architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors, right through to engaging with development and construction partners.
Commitment to Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment
Nova Properties has a documented 3-year plan to attain a Level-1 BBBEE certification.
The objectives to be reached by the end of Q1 2021 are as follows:
- management – Board is 25% black;
- to train and upskill black entrepreneurs entering the property sector – Nova Properties will consider entering into an agreement with the Enterprise Development Property Fund (a Level-1, 100% black owned ESD programme), and the programme has already commenced.
Property Portfolio Overview
Retail & Commercial Asset List:
| NO | PROPERTY NAME | PROPERTY DESCRIOPTION | ADDRESS | GLA | VALUE 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amogela Mall (Choppies) | Community Centre | 6 Mooi Str, Welkom | 15 991 | 26 700 000 |
| 2 | Athlone Park (Pick 'n Pay) | Neighbourhood Centre | 26-30 Price Str, Athlone Park, Amanzimtoti | 6 433 | 30 000 000 |
| 3 | Carletonville Centre (Shoprite) | Neighbourhood Centre | Onyx Ave, Carletonville | 9 961 | 20 000 000 |
| 4 | Carnival Centre | Neighbourhood Centre | Erf 1294, Dalpark X11, Brakpan | 3 105 | 15 700 000 |
| 5 | Cold Creek Developments | Farm Tweefontein No 915, Polokwane, Capricorn | 114 634 | 56 109 235 | |
| 6 | Courtside Centre (Spar) | Neighbourhood Centre & Offices | Cnr Kaapschehoop & N4, West Acres, Nelspruit | 6 716 | 69 980 000 |
| 7 | Del Judor Mall (Checkers Hyper) | Community Centre & Offices | Cnr Watermeyer & Stevenson Rd, Witbank | 21 890 | 186 710 448 |
| 8 | Flora Centre (Pick 'n Pay) | Neighbourhood Centre & Offices | Cnr Conrad & Ondekkers Rd, Florida North | 23 727 | 188 826 530 |
| 9 | The Villa Complex | Mega Mixed-Use Complex | The Villebois Mareuil Drive, Erasmuskloof, Pretoria | 88 693 | 848 000 000 |
| 10 | The Village Centre (Spar) | Neighbourhood Centre & Offices | 49 Ehmke Str, Nelspruit Central | 5 174 | 43 440 000 |
| 11 | Waterglen Centre (Pick 'n Pay) | Community Centre & Offices | Cnr January Masilela Dr, Garsfontein Rd, Waterglen, Pretoria | 12 451 | 232 500 000 |
| 12 | Zambezi Mall | Small Regional Mall | Cnr Sefako Makgato Dr & Moloto Rd, Derdepoort, Pretoria | 31 000 | 480 000 000 |
| 339 776 | 2 197 966 213 |
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Sector square meterage and vacancy %:
| NO | PROPERTY DESCRIPTION | RETAIL GLA | OFFICE GLA | TOTAL GLA | RETAIL VACANCY | OFFICE VACANCY | RETAIL VACANCY SQM | OFFICE VACANCY SQM | NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amogela Mall (Choppies) | 15991 | 0 | 15991 | 75% | 0% | 10147 | 0 | Busy with redevelopment |
| 2 | Athlone Park (Pick 'n Pay) | 6433 | 0 | 6433 | 74% | 0% | 4775 | 0 | Preparing for redevelopment |
| 3 | Carletonville Centre (Shoprite) | 9961 | 0 | 9961 | 28% | 0% | 2354 | 0 | Preparing for redevelopment |
| 4 | Carnival Centre | 3105 | 0 | 3105 | 13% | 0% | 555 | 0 | Considering alternative use |
| 5 | Courtside Centre (Spar) | 5243 | 1474 | 6717 | 30% | 16% | 996 | 66 | Preparing for redevelopment |
| 6 | Del Judor Mall (Checkers Hyper) | 20670 | 1220 | 21890 | 20% | 96% | 3655 | 1137 | Preparing for redevelopment |
| 7 | Flora Centre (Pick 'n Pay) | 20227 | 3500 | 23727 | 16% | 20% | 4836 | 700 | Require redevelopment |
| 8 | The Villa Complex | 88693 | 0 | 88693 | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | Under development |
| 9 | The Village Centre (Spar) | 2451 | 2723 | 5174 | 14% | 32% | 347 | 1829 | Require redevelopment |
| 10 | Waterglen Centre (Pick 'n Pay) | 10541 | 1910 | 12451 | 22% | 80% | 789 | 1424 | Busy with redevelopment |
| 11 | Zambezi Mall | 31000 | 0 | 31000 | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | Require further redevelopment |
| TOTALS | 214315 | 10827 | 225142 | 28454 | 5156 | Vacancy percentage exclude The Villa and Zambezi |
Retail & Commercial Asset zoning:
| PROPERTY | ZONING | COUNCIL | HEIGHT ZONE | FLOOR AREA RATIO | COVERAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amogela Mall | Business Type E | Matjhabeng | A minimum of 8.75m | 0.5 | 100% |
| Athlone Centre | Limited Commercial | Ethekwini | 4 Storeys | 1 | 75% |
| Carletonville Centre | Business 3 | Merafong City | 2 Storeys | 1 | 60% |
| Carnival Centre | Business 2 | Ekurhuleni Metropolitan | 8 Storeys | 0 | 80% |
| Courtside Centre | Special | Mbombela | 2 Storeys | 1.2 | 60% |
| Del Judor Mall | Business 2 | Emalahleni | 6 Storeys | 2 | Ground-90%; Other-75% |
| Flora Centre | Business 1 | Joburgh | 10 Storeys | 1 | 50% |
| The Villa Complex | Special | City of Tshwane | 5 Storeys | 1.5 | 73% |
| The Village Centre | Business 1 | Mbombela | 3 Storeys | 0.61 | 50% |
| Waterglen Centre | Special | City of Tshwane | 2 Storeys | 0 | 60% |
| Zambezi Mall | Special | City of Tshwane | 3 Storeys | 0.4 | 40% |
Residential Development Asset List:
| No | DEVELOPMENT NAME | PROVINCE | HECTARES | ZONED UNITS | 2020 AFS VALUE | 2019 MARKET VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berg & Dal Residential Estate | Gauteng | 72 | 777 | 42 330 853 | 155 400 000.00 |
| 2 | Countryview Residential Development | Gauteng | 2 | 190 | 42 497 875 | 38 000 000.00 |
| 3 | Mont Rouge Residential Estate | North-West | 9.6 | 198 | 28 289 632 | 39 600 000.00 |
| 4 | Polokwane Mixed-Use Development | Limpopo | 64 | 721 | 32 450 084 | 144 200 000.00 |
| 5 | Steenbokpan Mixed-Use Development | Limpopo | 128.2 | 0 | 2 565 000 | - |
| 6 | Stonewood Country Estate | Mpumalanga | 20.3 | 75 | 25 480 000 | 15 000 000.00 |
| 7 | Theresapark Residential Development | Gauteng | 6.9 | 578 | 40 195 000 | 115 600 000.00 |
| 8 | Waterfall Residential Estate | North-West | 38.3 | 2068 | 51 975 000 | 413 600 000.00 |
| 341 | 4 607 | 265 783 444 | 921 400 000.00 |
Operational efficiencies
The Group also actively manages running costs in a number of ways. The two biggest cost drivers associated with commercial property management are municipal rates and taxes, which are linked to a property’s municipal valuation, and electricity.
While consistently working to enhance the inherent value of its portfolio, parallel processes aim to monitor and rectify each asset’s municipal valuation, thus reducing the associated rates costs.
With regards to electricity, the period 2000 to 2019 shows an increased cost from around R5.24/m2 to R33.34/m2 – a staggering hike that could impact on tenants’ payment profiles and knock-on to the Group’s cash-flow. To mitigate, Nova’s commercial property assets have been retro-fitted with solar installations, energy-efficient lighting and pre-paid electricity meters, while generators are in place to reduce the impact on both tenants and consumers in the event of power outages; Rainwater catchers are utilised to reduce day-to-day water consumption and as a buffer against potential shortages. In this way, tenants are assured that their leases remain affordable and that consumers’ shopping experiences remain reliable, convenient and enjoyable.
A residential view
In its residential portfolio, the Group concentrates on eight geographical hubs, all selected for their development and growth potential. Within this, a focus on three models – build-to-sell, re-zoning, and rental stock – aims to unlock long-term bottom-line value from this primarily land-based asset portfolio. The planning and zoning aspects are the product of years-long in-house planning processes, while development and building are facilitated by joint venture partnerships. The Group’s residential projects are in various stages of development, and will continue depending on market demand and the securing of appropriate funding.