Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Dec/January 2020 | Page 59

the country appealing to a large number of real estate investors around the globe. It has also seen the erection of high valued developments like The River Estate. Chinese investor John Zeyun Yang together with national and county governments, officially began the groundbreaking of eight high-rise apartment buildings in Nairobi’s Ngara estate in March 2019. The 34-story blocks will each contain 340 homes and be one of the tallest residential developments in the Kenyan capital. The River Estate Scheduled for completion in December 2021. The River Estate consists of a planned bridge that will cross the Nairobi River to provide easy access to and from the 2.3-hectare gated community. Yang’s firm, Erdemann Property Limited, has been operating in Kenya since 2003 and has built about 4,000 homes and warehouses throughout Nairobi and Mombasa. 88 Nairobi Lordship Africa, an international real estate development company has begun construction on the 88 Nairobi condominiums. The 44-story building will include high-end residential apartments from studio units to luxury penthouses. The residential units begin at the eighth floor and will feature generous covered terraces and balconies protected by transparent safety glass balustrades. The lower floors will contain a gym, parking area, shops and a restaurant. The tower will have 12,000 square feet (1,115 square meters) of rental space and an additional 16,000 square feet (1,486 square meters) of lush gardens. The development is targeting the community of people who work in the Upper Hill district, which is home to embassies, multi-national corporations, blue-chip financial companies, medical institutions, and the high-profile legal firms. Nairobi Gate Industrial Park Among some of the international real estate investors intending to take advantage of the African investment hub with opportunities for greater returns, is South African unlisted property developer Improvon. Improvon collaborated with private equity Investor Actis to build the biggest industrial real-estate investment in Kenya’s history. The two companies have created a joint venture called ImpAct to build the 40ha industrial business park development at an estimated cost of R1.7bn. The new development will be called Nairobi Gate Industrial Park. Improvon CEO Stefano Contardo said Kenya stood out as an African country to invest in while SA struggled with economic weakness and political squabbles. Kenya is forecast to grow at nearly 6% in 2019. Various other countries within Africa have a wide variety of investment opportunities including Zambia with the best retail developments, Ghana commercial office developments, eSwatini with the best hotel developments and Mozambique with the best industrial and logistic developments among others. For African real estate investment opportunities, AFSIC’ Investing in Africa 2020 seats in London in May 2020. SOURCE API, Standard Bank, JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI), Global Tall Building News, Improvon, Lordship Africa, Erdemann Property Limited SA Real Estate Investor Magazine DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020 57