Pinetown landmark receives upgrade
Sandy's Centre has served the local community since 1968 and has received its first major upgrade.
HAVING served the Highway community for more than 45 years, Sandy’s Centre is currently undergoing an R11 million upgrade.
According to Dave Keal, spokesman for the owners of the centre, the building has undergone numerous alterations and extensions in the past but the current project will ensure the centre has a brand new look.
“The new owners’ objective was to create a lighter, brighter and more interesting visual connection with people as they approach the centre from surrounding areas. What they are aiming to achieve is to open the centre up, create striking entrance features, open up the shop fronts where necessary and interlink functionally accessible piazza-style walkways,” said Keal.
He said they will be instituting controlled tenant parking at the lower level of the centre’s ground, creating more parking for customers. The security systems in place are being upgraded and controlled car guards will be instituted.
The only store that closed down at the centre was the Fruit and Veg City, which was replaced by an extended and state of the art SPAR. The SPAR now offers a fresh produce department, a fully-fledged butchery, a sushi bar, a bakery as well as a health bar. In addition to the ABSA ATM available on the ground level at the centre, two ATMs, FNB and Standard Bank, are available inside the SPAR.
According to the architect, Andre Van Dam from Avid Architects, Sandy’s Centre was badly run down and was in dire need of attention. “The brief from my client who recently purchased the centre was to turn the ugly duckling into a swan. Extending the building in any way was out of the question as the existing development already exceeds the maximum coverage,” said Van Dam.
He said the essential aspect of the revamp was to rid the building of the litter of signage and enhance the visual access to the stores.
“The monolithic concrete tower had to go and it was an enormous challenge to get it down while still providing a safe shopping environment for the public. The end result will be a happy, rejuvenated centre that will provide the public with a fun, practical and interesting shopping destination,” said Van Dam.
All of the stores at the centre are currently trading. The centre’s upgrade is scheduled to be completed by the end of November.
