Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2015 | Page 15

Lessons learned
In life, one must define your role
and understand that business is
a game. This game has rules, you
must know the opponents, their
weaknesses and their strengths.
Armed with that information can
transform your life into greater
achievements. Know the strengths
and weaknesses of your opponents
can ignite your creativity.
A deal he cannot forget is the
Lincoln Avenue deal, where the
architectural design defeats the
normal imagination. He had to
change architects three times
because their minds were still stuck
in the past. So, “We became iconic
at the time which created a new
way of building,” Ogundele says.
Many architects and developers
have copied this new style. When
he is building, he thinks about
the money he is putting into the
building. “What we focus on is
creating value,” he adds.
“The biggest failure of the
property industry and developers
is their concentration to immediate
gratification, at Sujimoto, this is
totally against our principles,” he
says.
Future projects
A couple of projects but he cannot
forget the Lorenzo, this iconic
building will be named after
Lorenzo the Medici, the Duke
of Florence (popularly known
as ElMagnifico). This building
will change the architectural
landscape of Bouidillon Road, for
the first time. International Italian
restaurant, Cipriani, will be in
the building. This will be the first
Cipriani in Africa.
Future property developments
by Sujimoto Construction include
Cosimo, Montaigne, Caesar by
www.reimag.co.za

future
projects

Sujimoto and Adebukola Estates.
Cosimo, a big apartment complex
with 100 rooms on 21 floors, is
currently in the construction phase.
It has one to three-bedroomed
apartments, which are all fully
serviced.
Other projects include Lorenzo
66 apartments and penthouses,
He is currently working on this
property which will have 60 luxury
apartments and six penthouse each
with a private swimming pool.
Renowned world class architect,
Philippe Starck is amazed by this
project. Sujimoto Construction is in
talks with the Trump Organization
and The Legacy Group to manage
the apartments.
Montaigne luxury homes, a
property development consisting
of 52 terraced town houses (or
maisonettes). This project is a
collaboration with Italian architect,
Antonio De Larotino, who has
used cathedral-like architecture
for the town houses. Meanwhile,
Caesar by Sujimoto is a set of 256
luxury apartments.
This bold real estate visionary has
big plans for the future of Nigeria’s
luxury real estate sector. Ogundele’s
biggest and most ambitious
property development to date will
be Adebukola Estates, named after
his mother. It will comprise of
500 private compounds, each with
four-bedroomed houses and 1,
500 apartments, including schools,
supermarkets and leisure parks.
He aims to have this construction
project completed by 2020.
Ogundele aims to transform
the skyline of Lagos with his
construction masterpieces and his
target is to build 1 000 units of
luxury apartments, also by 2020.
March 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

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