Centum to build Sh60bn ($725 Million) housing project in Runda, Kenya

Mekatilili

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Oct 16, 2011
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Listed investment company Centum plans to build a Sh60 billion mixed-use real estate development on its 100 acres of prime land along Limuru Road, near Gigiri.
The project, whose planning is being undertaken by GAPP Architects and Urban Designers of South Africa, will consist of medium density residential homes, a five-star hotel, office blocks and a retail centre.
The property is located within the Nairobi’s diplomatic blue zone and is less than 10 minutes drive from the UN Complex, the US Embassy and the Canadian Embassy.

According to Centum, the site would have no competitive advantage as a purely residential development because there is plenty of supply of low density residential units in the immediate surrounding areas.
“The property is in an area that has matured as a residential area and is now primed for commercial developments such as offices in much the same way as places such as Upper Hill and Kilimani have experienced,”the company said in its annual report.
The prime piece of land was acquired from the Koinange family in a transaction estimated to be at least Sh1 billion.

The development will be executed in phases and will have a total floor area of about 830,000 square metres on completion. The first phase of the project will consist of about 100,000 square metres.
Last year the company invited local and international investors to buy into the project that could later be listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange under real estate investment trusts (REITs).
The move marks Centum’s entry into the lucrative property sector, in a plan involving acquiring and master-planning land before selling it to investors in smaller portions, aimed at reducing the company’s exposure to the highly volatile stock market.
Centum is the biggest publicly listed company in East Africa quoted on both the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).

Runda Closeburn Site

 
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