One more as Mavoko grows

By KEVIN OGUOKO

A dusty road leads to the 10-acre project nestled amid the gently sloping hills in the heart of Machakos County.

The development’s neighbours, Greenpark Estate and Sunset Boulevard, are already hot properties, both with mixed press reviews. One could easily say that this is turning to be a favourite area of Mavoko for such estates.

Welcome to Lapfund Gardens, financed by The Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund).

The estate’s white walls stand out against Mavoko’s brown grass field. Behind the brown wooden gate is a contemporary look with neatly aligned maisonette units, lining the clean paved roads, with green watered grass on the sides.

The 131 three-bedroom units are of three types. The first type, referred to as Acacia, is each 1,400 square feet and 36 in number. The second type, referred to as Bamboo, 39 in number, is each 1,453 square feet. The third type, Cider, comprises 56 units with each being 1,729 square feet.

The door guarding the Acacia unit is made of an internal timber and a glossy finishing. The living room is fairly sized and spreads out to the dining room space.

Except for the lighting hanging low from the dining room wall, there is not much impressive finishing to look forward to in the dining room space, but could present homeowners with space to make their own. The living room and the dining room flow into each other.

The kitchen is fairly big and is furnished with inbuilt MDF (medium density fibre board) cabinets and granite worktops. The cabinets have an interesting opening and closing system — instead of swinging out from their hinges; the cabinet doors swing up vertically, much like a Lamborghini’s doors.  

The kitchen’s storeroom is directly opposite below the staircase leading to the bedroom upstairs.

The staircase is supported by a pure steel spiral. It is well illuminated with two tall windows on either side looking out onto the street.

The master bedroom has a small balcony. But only a strand of wall separates the balcony from the neighbour’s — the two pretty much share the same balcony. Nevertheless, it provides an excellent view of the whole estate.

The two other bedrooms are fairly spaced, with excellent closet finishing, which seems so far to be a big plus for the units.

bamboo

The second type of units, Bamboo, are not much different from Acacia. The units’ kitchen area and the back garden can only be accessed through the house.

Bamboo units have no balconies on the master bedroom but instead have a slab to fit a comfortable cushion to sit while overlooking the rest of the development through the large well-framed windows.

The Cider units, which are the most expensive, are surprisingly the disappointment of the Lapfund Gardens project. It is commendable that the units have bigger living rooms, with a distinct separate the dining room. However, the kitchen is smaller and squeezed compared to the other two types of units. The two bedrooms, which are both all ensuite, are also smaller.

The master bedroom is narrower, a fact which might cause décor problems, especially when it comes to what to do with the extra narrow space.

“When all the bedrooms are ensuite, the bedrooms look much smaller, which is not accurate considering you have a spacious bathroom in the room as well,” says James Ruitha, Managing Director of Advent Valuers, the selling agents of the project.

Acacia and Bamboo units go for Sh9.6 million each, while Cider Sh12 million each.

Residents can get water from Mavoko as well as a borehole within the estate.

The estate has 24-hour CCTV cameras all round its electric perimeter wall.