Actis Capital has indicated that they are in talks with Nairobi’s City Council to fast track construction of an access road to and from Garden City Mall. City Hall has already designed the road that will make this a possibility. The access road will branch off the Thika Super Highway.
The 32-acre mixed-use development is being constructed along Thika superhighway and is projected to contain the largest malls in East Africa once complete. It is estimated that the development will be able to accommodate over 120 local and international brands that will be making a debut into the Kenyan market.
The road is meant to ease the traffic nightmares that shoppers are likely to encounter if they access the facility via the Kasarani underpass. They will therefore be able to use the new alternative road through the Garden Estate interchange. Exit number seven on the superhighway will be used by shoppers from Thika who will then branch left into the new road which passes through Willmary Estate.
The mixed-use development is being undertaken at a cost of US$ 250m on its first phase, to be opened in April this year. This phase of construction include the development of 33,000sqm of retail space and 76 residential units and a three acre central park. The mall alone will span a space of 50,000 sq. metres.
The Garden City mall will be a landmark destination in Nairobi and the entire East Africa region owing to its size and investment injected into the project. The Government even acknowledged this by granting Garden city Vision 2030 status in July 2013.
Actis is a London-based private equity firm that invests mostly in Africa, India and Latin America. They have been involved in several successful real estate developments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya is also undertaken other city construction projects such as the Konza city.
