Hope as controversial multi-billion mall shakes off dark past

A section of the Lake Basin Mall that has already been handed over to the Lake Basin Development Authority by the Contractor who was working on the Mall after Government paid Sh1.5 billion which is part of the Debt owed to Co-op Bank. He said 30 per cent of the Mall has already been leased out. [Phillip Orwa, Standard]

After months of being in the news for all the wrong reasons, the controversy ridden Lake Basin Mall is creeping out of the woods with good news.

Hopes are high after the Sh4 billion mall started picking up business for the first time since its completion about three years ago.

The mall has been projected to generate about Sh230 million annually once all spaces are occupied, with the amount expected to increase in subsequent years.

Since completion in 2016, the mall had been struggling to get tenants with business spaces unoccupied 

The mall has also been at the centre of a multi-billion shillings scam that has seen the former chairman of Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA), the owners of the mall, charged in court over corruption.

Hotel chain

Last weekend, Best Western International, a hotel chain with more than 4,000 hotels in over 100 countries opened a three-star hotel at the mall.

Yesterday, LBDA chairperson Odoyo Owidi said occupation of the building has shot up to about 45 per cent.

“All the office space on the second floor is now occupied, and there are a number of activities that are taking place in the mall,” said Owidi.