The Observer - 26 January 2014 - 11
Mash Holdings property
investment at its best
ZIMRE diversifies portfolio
L
isted property giant Zimre
“Once we are certain that the involve putting up infrastructure
Property Investments is tenant is no longer able to pay, such as roads and sewer and water
diversifying its property certain processes, including legal reticulation.
portfolio to balance its mix action, are initiated not only to
To date, ZPI has undertaken
and improve its revenue base.
recover the amounts outstanding but development projects in Tynwald
Finance director Nyasha Zhou said also the space. This also gives us an towards the end of 2012, Rhodene
the obtaining liquidity crunch had hit opportunity to lease the same space in Masvingo which is a low-density
the business hard, resulting in some and achieve better rates. But we have project, and Parklands in Bulawayo,
of its leased space not performing to also discovered that the CBD is now which is medium-density.
expectations.
heavily congested and parking has
All these three projects are
“The times have been hard for become a major problem, making it currently selling. The Tynwald project
the business,” Zhou said. “Income unattractive to prospective tenants.
started selling in 2013 with an initial
largely aligned to rentals has had
“We have seen people opting to 150 stands being put on the market.
serious problems in terms of ability move out and lease in suburbs or Market response was very good. The
of tenants to pay, let alone maintain office parks. This flight of tenants has batch of 88 stands will be put on
tenancy.
resulted in an increase in void space,” the market once t