Ballito Junction Regional Mall appoints CEO

Ballito Junction Regional Mall, which opens on 23 March 2017, has appointed Geraldine Jorgensen as its Chief Executive Officer.

Jorgensen is a KwaZulu-Natal born-and-bred property professional with extensive shopping centre and property management experience. She will lead the management team of the iconic new Ballito Junction Regional Mall at the heart of Ballito, on KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast, located just off the busy N2 highway.

Taking shopping on the Dolphin Coast to new heights, Ballito Junction Regional Mall is the major expansion of an existing 10,000sqm shopping centre to a magnificent 80,000sqm mega-mall. It is owned and developed by the consortium of leading South African property companies, Menlyn Maine Investment Holdings and Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment.

Jorgensen, who has lived in KwaZulu-Natal for most of her life, is excited about the new Ballito Junction Regional Mall, especially because “this beautiful mall is opening in my hometown”.

She says: “Ballito Junction Regional Mall is definitely going to be an asset for our town. It’s going to be great for Ballito and the area. “

Jorgensen matriculated from Carter High School in Pietermaritzburg before starting her working life with a six-year stint at SARS. After travelling abroad she returned to South Africa to join Old Mutual Property, where she began her 15-year career in commercial real estate.

Before taking up the new position at Ballito Junction, Jorgensen spent six years at the super-regional Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Durban as property manager. Prior to this, she was property manager of a portfolio of commercial and industrial properties in the Durban CBD for Old Mutual Property, a position she held for seven years.

Jorgensen has earned a clutch of impressive qualifications including Bachelor of Accounting Science (Bcompt), certificates in shopping centre marketing and management from the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) and property from the South African Property Owners Association

(SAPOA). She is also a certified Professional Practitioner in Real Estate (PPRE) by the Estate Agency Affairs Board.

With five months until the mall opens, Jorgensen certainly has her work cut out for her. In anticipation of 23 March 2017, she will drive the extensive preparations to ensure everything is in place for a smooth opening.

She believes that customers are going to be thrilled by the sheer extent and quality of the mall. “Everything we are doing is for our customers. A mall has to be all about the people who use it and are going to enjoy the full shopping experience Ballito Junction Regional Mall offers them. I think they will be most excited by the size of the mall and variety of shopping, with groceries, fashion, entertainment, and much more all in one sensational shopping centre.”

Currently, there is nothing like it in the area. Ballito Junction Regional Mall will offer customers a wide choice of over 200 hand-picked stores, including anchor retailers Checkers, Woolworths, Edgars and Game, as well as its existing anchors Pick n Pay and Dis-Chem.

It will also introduce a matchless mix of leading retail and leisure choices, from international brands and independent retailers to endless entertainment for the entire family.

“With our beautiful warm climate, I think people will also enjoy the fact that Ballito Junction Regional Mall is completely covered, every shop is air-conditioned, and there’ll also be lots of cool undercover parking. Comfort and variety will be huge drawcards,” predicts Jorgensen.

She remarks that one of the things she enjoys most about Ballito is its laid-back lifestyle that inspires healthy and balanced living. “Ballito Junction Regional Mall will become a valuable part of this by providing a beautiful heart for its community where everyone can relax, enjoy, shop and socialise.”