Sh650m mall to give Limuru town a facelift

Limuru town is set to get its first mall after the completion of the construction of a new shopping mall in 14 months’ time.

Limuru Mall, whose construction started last week after a groundbreaking ceremony and will sit on 2.8 acres, is being put up by Manguo Developers at a cost of Sh650 million.

The mall, managed by Pinnacle Projects Limited, will be ready in September next year.

The project is first of its kind in the town, whose growth has not been impressive in comparison to neighbouring towns in Kiambu County like Kikuyu, Ruaka, Kiambu, Thika, Ruiru and Juja.

Despite being strategically located and enjoying access to capital, Nairobi, Limuru town has a bad face because of its old commercial buildings. Furthermore, it is only recently that investors started building rental flats on the town’s outskirts.

Presently, Limuru has one modern commercial building, Ushirika Centre, which holds the only supermarket in the town, Cleanshelf. Investors such as banks looking for office space have had to first renovate and remodel old buildings in the town before starting their operations.

Good timing

“It is evident that Limuru town is in need of a proper modern shopping mall owing to its strategic location. The mall under construction has come at an opportune time when shopping malls are looking to expand and increase their presence across the counties to enable them bring services closer to the people,” said Limuru MP John Kiragu, while presiding over the groundbreaking ceremony.

The anchor tenant for the mall will be Tuskys Supermarket, which will take up a total of 59,470 square feet on ground floor and the mezzanine floor. Total lettable area on the ground floor is 63,591.60 square feet, while the first floor will have a lettable area of about 43,000 square feet. The mall will be installed with CCTV cameras and will have 234 car parking lots.

Ephraim Kakui, the Director Pinnacle Projects, said the minimum rental space at the mall will be 500 square feet.

The main entrance for the mall faces the main Limuru Road. A bus stop will be constructed on each side of the road with a zebra crossing. Deceleration lanes and islands will be incorporated to ease access to the mall and reduce congestion.

“The developers would like to assure both shoppers and tenants that this mall will be built to the highest standards of quality to ensure that it becomes a monumental building in Limuru town that will withstand the test of time,” Kakui said.

The project joins a number of other malls in other towns in Kiambu County where land for development is increasingly becoming scarce and too expensive.