Tycoons Snap Up Trophy Homes at Two Rivers Mall

Wealthy buyers snapped up houses at Two Rivers Mall in Ruaka, Nairobi, drawn by the promise of luxury living despite reports of a real estate slowdown.

Centum Real Estate, the company behind the project, says it sold 48 apartments, or 30 per cent of the 160 units on offer at Riverbank Apartments several weeks before the project’s inauguration – signalling a promising future for the multi-billion-shilling venture.

“The Riverbank Apartments are the first lot out of a project pipeline of 1,560 residential units planned at Two Rivers over five years.

“[Our] policy is to break ground when a 30 per cent pre-sale level has been attained and the project is fully funded,” Centum RE managing director Samuel Kariuki said.

Mr Kariuki, who declined to disclose the cost of the venture – citing market confidentiality –, said construction of phase one is underway with a completion target of 24 months.

Centum RE, the property development subsidiary of Centum Investment Company, has hired Seyani Brothers & Co., one of the highly respected local contractors, to undertake the project.

Riverbank Apartments prices start at Sh15 million for the smallest unit, with a 24-month payment plan. The development promises a rental yield of 8.0 per cent.

Among the amenities offered by Riverbank Apartments include Fibre optic link to digital telephone exchange, DSTV and internet provision, high-speed lifts in every block, ‘smart home facilities’, as well as a private storage area in the basement for every resident.

“A fibre optic link makes Wi-Fi, Internet and telephony work super-fast. Electricity is reliable, your water constant, clean and fresh. There are plenty of parking spaces and each apartment has a private storage area in the basement,” the company says on its website. 

Despite a current slowdown of the Kenyan property market, buyers are increasingly buying expensive homes in strategic locations, mostly within upmarket mix-use developments as the ‘live, work and play’ concept takes root in the country.

A few years ago, buyers flocked to the Garden City Mall in Nairobi to acquire Sh46 million-a-unit villas that were up for sale in phase two of the mixed-use development on Thika Road.

The Sh1.9 billion ‘village’, which was launched in March 2014, consists of 56 four-bedroom villas and 83 apartments that sit on a 21-acre plot of land next to the shopping mall.

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Based on the success of the project, Garden City owners have teamed up with Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate of India to build a Sh12 billion ‘Mi Vida Homes’ estate at the mall.

The joint partners will develop 624 apartments, which will be sold for Sh6 million (one-bedroom) and Sh9 million for a two-bedroom unit.

A three-bedroom unit will be sold for Sh14 million.

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