The family of late billionaire poultry farmer Nelson Muguku has opened a mall worthy Ksh3 billion in Karen Waterfront shopping complex with South Africa’s retail giant, Game, as the anchor tenant.
During an interview, son to the late Muguku,David Muguku said the 200,000 square feet property occupying 13 acres of land will host the publicly listed SA retailer on the ground floor as well as chemists, fashion stores, a tyre centre, a grocery store, an art gallery with several spaces reserved for commercial banks and wellness centres.
According to business daily,Retail shops, restaurants, a book store and salons will sit on the upper floor with the next two phases on part of the 50 acre land reserved for development of high-end residential apartments, offices and a hotel.
“We had 500 workers during construction and are happy that with 110 internationally branded stores and restaurants, more Kenyans have been employed to offer various services. We are still in talks with more international brands and will be making major announcements soon,” he said.
The live-work-shop project was built by Chinese contractor, CJRE East Africa, which is a subsidiary of the China Railway Group Company.
Located in the Karen Triangle (between Karen Road, Karen Lane and Lang’ata Road), it is one of Kenya’s largest real estate developments boasting of water features, walking/cycle paths as well as greenery and open spaces around the property.
“We have incorporated a wastewater treatment plant to help as conserve as well as utilise internally sourced water. Solar energy has also been tapped to ease our power bills as well as ensure we are a green building,” he said.
Phase one of the project dubbed Karen Waterfront will cost Sh2.6 billion and people familiar with the plan said construction of the last two could raise the cost to Sh10 billion.
It will sit on a 50-acre piece of land located in the Karen Triangle (the area enclosed between Karen Road, Karen Lane and Lang’ata Road), making it one of Kenya’s largest pieces of real estate on the cards.
Work on the mega project is expected to kick off with the construction of a two-storey shopping mall with 25,000 square metres of leasable space overlooking a 3.5-acre man-made lake.
The family of the late Nelson Muguku, the poultry farmer made billions as a top shareholder at Equity Bank.