Garden City, a 32-acre mixed use development on Nairobi’s Thika Highway is set to be one of the largest in East Africa.
Home to over 100 local and international retail brands including Game – a subsidiary of South African retail store Massmart, Nakumatt, Tile & Carpet, Victoria Courts, Artcaffé, KFC, Domino, Foschini and Cold Stone creamery. A cinema and dining terrace will offer a break from all that retail therapy.
Phase one of the project Garden City, whose construction is led by Nairobi based Mentor Management; a team of international and local experts in development and project management based in Nairobi is going on and almost complete. It involved the development of 33,000 square meter of retail space and 76 two & three bedroom apartments and duplexes.
The Garden City Mall’s is owned by CDC jointly with the Actis.
Securing space at the Garden City by tenants
A 10% deposit is needed to secure these properties with the balance payable on final completion. The first phase of the Ksh.22.7bn Garden city project is set to open on May 28, 2015 and was in 2013 granted the Vision 2030 Private sector partnership program status. Property is ready for occupation with Knight Frank Kenya and discussions are going on with other foreign retailers looking to enter the rapidly-expanding Kenyan market. The final phases two and three which include a multiplex cinema, more residential and retail space, a business hotel and office space, will be opened between 2016 and 2017.
“Structural work on Garden City Mall was completed in September 2014 and as the mall has continued to take shape. The roads and the paving, as well as the ceilings, shop fronts, tiling and doors are all progressing well.” read a recent statement released by the developer, Actis.
Facilities at the Garden City Mall
With the all kinds of shops and joints set to open, visitors will be spoilt for choice with water features, children’s play areas and an outdoor events arena with Portable Staging for concerts, local theatre and shows. The restaurants and cafés of the dining terrace with outdoor tables will overlook the 3 acre Garden City Park. Garden City will also offer the best parking ratio in Nairobi at one parking space to 25 square metres of retail floor space.
It is touted to become second largest mall after the upcoming Two Rivers Mall in Runda and its sheer variety and quality means it will become the leisure destination not just for Nairobi and Kenya but for the whole of East Africa.
Garden City Location
Garden City occupies a prime location between exit 7 and 8 on the city’s Thika Highway and close to leafy Nairobi suburbs of Muthaiga, Garden Estate and Runda and an eight minutes drive from Westlands and the CBD. It will benefits from easy access from Thika Super Highway, East Africa’s busiest road which has been recently expanded from a four lane to an eight lane highway.
The Garden City mall is set to be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified in East Africa for its environmental features in its design, construction and maintenance which will bring down operating costs for tenants by reducing electricity and water consumption. The features include water recycling and harvesting rainwater, the use of solar-collectors and the planting of indigenous trees and landscaping.
The Garden City mall solar carport is set to be Africa’s largest solar carport and will help in promoting environmental conservation in Kenya.
Michael Turner, Actis Head of East Africa says the development was encouraged by the strong demand shown by both local and international retailers and once complete the Garden City mall will create a large scale and world-class facilities that meet the needs of the Kenyan businesses sector, home owners and consumers.
The Garden City Mall’s owners hopes to ride on its success in developing real estate projects in Kenya, with its Nairobi Business Park office complex and The Junction shopping mall in Nairobi being their major sell outs. The Garden City Mall will join the list of the several other malls along the Thika super highway, and is only a few meters from the Thika Road Mall (TRM) and the Mountain Mall and other malls that are still under construction at Kenyatta university and another in Juja.