Malls on the rise, Migaa in the green(2011-06-13)
The resilience of Kenya’s economy and a growing middle class is fuelling growth in the country’s retail property market. According to a new report by Knight Frank, Nairobi leads in the number of new, most modern shopping malls, with new entrants being Galleria Shopping Mall and Greenspan. Mombasa and Kisumu have also witnessed retail developments, including the New City Mall in Nyali, Mombasa (currently under construction) and United Mall and Mega City in Kisumu. “The retail sector has benefited from a resilient economy and a growing middle class population,” says Knight Frank’s 2011 Africa Report. The report also says Nairobi’s major decentralised office nodes of Westlands, Upper Hill, Riverside, Karen and Gigiri have continued to witness a considerable amount of prime office development, notably 14 Riverside, Delta Corner and KMA Centre. “The new accommodation has been let at a steady rate and Grade A office rents have increased,” the report, which covers 33 African countries, notes. Meanwhile, Nairobi has lost many coffee estates in its galloping growth into the leafy suburbs. But one of its latest developments, Migaa, is building a development that is keeping the coffee intact and opening a coffee museum for the city. Located about 20-minutes from Nairobi’s central business district, Migaa was originally five individual coffee farms — Gituamba, Migaa, Gakomo, Matandi and Waitangi — all belonging to the Twist and Findlay family until they were bought by Brooke Bond in 1971 and merged into one estate called the Migaa Coffee Estate. The 775-acre estate, now under development as the city’s “Green Community”, is keeping half its acreage as gardens, lakes and a golf course. At least 100 acres will remain occupied by coffee. It is also adding to its coffee heritage and setting by rehabilitating the former coffee factory at its core as a coffee museum, which will run pulping units, roast, grind and package the housing estate’s own coffee. Set beside its own gift shop and cafe, the upcoming coffee museum is being built as part of a range of community amenities, spanning a sports and leisure centre, two schools, and office buildings for the development’s more than 4,000 residents. The old coffee factory is where Brooke Bond Ltd milled and packaged its coffee before selling to Aerotech in 1995. It remains fully functional with the pulping unit, workshops, skin driers, conveyor system, fermentation tanks, drying barbeques, metal drying plates, coffee conditioning system and motors still in place. “When refurbished, the factory will offer guided tours on coffee making for children, schools and residents. “It will be a place where the community can come and spend a day out with their families while learning about coffee in the area,” said Migaa project manager Ray Kanno. Courtesy: DN