Menlyn

Menlyn, Pretoria

The Menlyn of old was predominantly associated with Menlyn's huge shopping mall, its residential area sedate and quiet. But today's Menlyn is metamorphising into something of a 'Sandton' in Pretoria, and set to become a far more eclectic and vibrant area than before.

Set just off the N1 highway in amongst Pretoria's other more sought after eastern suburbs, Menlyn's few freehold homes and apartment blocks are now more popular with young couples who work in the area, and students who can use the Gautrain bus route between Menlyn and Hatfield to get to 'varsity campus.

The sprawling Menlyn Park Mall might have been here since 1979 but it has undergone a couple of refurbishments that have transformed it into what it terms a 'super regional shopping centre' with over 300 stores and at least 37 restaurants.

Now there are other new developments to add to the suburb's commercial allure. The Melrose Arch-style collection of Green Star SA-rated commercial buildings known as Menlyn Main marries flats, shopping areas and a business district in a new trendy 'precinct'. It intends adding a casino, much to some Menlyn residents' chagrin.

To rob the developer of his apt description of Menlyn Main as 'the Sandton of Pretoria' and apply it to Menlyn as a whole would not be going out on a limb.

Additional pipeline development includes Menlyn Towers, a 20 storey Michaelangelo Hotel look-alike, due to go up on the corner of Garsfontein and Matroosberg roads, and several high-rise residential and office buildings. These simply add to Menlyn's transformation from a sedate neighbourhood into the more trendy live, work and play phenomenon.

Menlyn lies between Atterbury and Garsfontein Roads, neighbour to Faerie Glen, Garsfontein and Waterkloof Glen.