Craze for smaller houses in Nyali gives estate a facelift

Contractor Khalid Mohamed Khalid (centre) briefs Myspace Properties CEO Mwenda Thuranira and a director, Ms Onester Magiri, on the progress of One Twiga Apartments in Nyali. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA

What you need to know:

  • The two-bedroom units at the One Twiga Apartments are going for Sh18 million, while the four- bedroom ones are going for Sh32 million, he says, adding that  70 per cent of the units have been sold off-plan. However, the two-bedroom units are in higher demand.

  • With the rising rents in the estate, the four-bedroom apartment is expected to fetch Sh200,000 in rent per month while the two bedroom one will generate Sh120,000, according to property agents.

The past 15 years have seen the upmarket Nyali Estate gradually evolve from a posh residential area to Mombasa’s new central business district.

The huge, five-bedroom maisonettes have been replaced by shopping malls, office blocks and three- or four-bedroom apartments for rent or sale, transforming the previously tranquil environment into a noisy business centre.

With those who owned houses in the estate preferring to move to quieter estates such as Kizingo and Shanzu, Nyali Estate’s fate seemed to have been sealed.

But changing tastes among high-end consumers and market demands have given rise to a new trend in the area – preference for one- and two-bedroom apartments. The apartments, targeting multinational executives who want to live in a relatively serene and secure environment, come with an office with Internet connection and inbuilt cooking gas system fitted with meters, enabling occupants to use the service on a pre-paid or post-paid basis. Payment options include credit cards and mobile money transfers.

One such development is the Sh476 million, seven-floor One Twiga Road Apartment block on Twiga Road, which has 21 units, 14 of which are two-bedroom while the rest  have four bedrooms . The project is expected to be ready by June 2016.

“We are basically responding to market demands. Our clients have been asking whether there are two- or one-bedroom apartments in Nyali, but there are very few, given the change in land use from residential to commercial,” says developer Mwenda Thuranira, chief  executive officer  of Myspace Properties.

He says that since the change, it has been difficult to get one- or two-bedroom houses in the estate, with three- and four-bedroom units dominating. But small families, elderly people whose children are grown up and executives with families elsewhere are asking for smaller units.

INFLUX OF MULTINATIONAL EXECUTIVES

The launch of major infrastructural projects like the standard gauge railway, the Dongo Kundu bypass and the construction of Mombasa Port’s second container terminal, have seen an influx of multinational executives to the coastal town. They prefer to live in relatively cheap, smaller units in high-end estates like Nyali, operate from home and attend meetings at construction sites.

“This demand is expected to rise and in our next development, we will go for the one-bedroom units,” Mr Thuranira says. The addition of a gym to the development has made it an even bigger hit with investors and tenants. 

The two-bedroom units at the One Twiga Apartments are going for Sh18 million, while the four- bedroom ones are going for Sh32 million, he says, adding that  70 per cent of the units have been sold off-plan. However, the two-bedroom units are in higher demand.

With the rising rents in the estate, the four-bedroom apartment is expected to fetch Sh200,000 in rent per month while the two bedroom one will generate Sh120,000, according to property agents.

Another feature that is attracting home buyers to the estate are the green projects. These include solar water heaters and bio-digesters that recycle shower and kitchen water for use in the garden. While the bio-digester minimizes water wastage, solar heaters have been known to reduce expenditure on electricity by up to 30 per cent.

According to Ms Alice Wahome, who built Almasi Apartments, the inclusion of the green projects has made prospective home buyers eager to buy units in the apartments. 

“Besides it being a green project, at Almasi, we made sure that there is ample space since there are only 16 apartments on one acre. Investors and home buyers like this conducive environment since even after we had sold those  the ones meant for sale, people kept inquiring,” she said.