New villas target Kenya’s middle class

Offiicial of Pam Goldings and TopRange Developers during the groundbreaking ceremony for Pelica Villas in Syokimau on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy

NAIROBI: A developer is putting up 67 semi-detached villas on Katani Road in Syokimau, with the the middle-class as the main target.

Ground-breaking for the construction of Pelican Villas took place last weekend. They are being developed by TopRange Developers and the award-winning Pam Golding Properties Kenya.

According to Mwaura Ngaari, chairman of TopRange Developers, the demand for family-friendly properties with modern features is high.

Pelican Villas, set on five acres, will have 67 en suite houses with each unit measuring 156 square metres. Each unit will have a staff quarter at the rear with a separate entrance.

The development will have a recreational area for both children and adults with social amenities such as a gym, salon and retail shops within the gated community.

Syokimau has become an attractive location for gated projects that seek to attract the urban Kenyan who wants to live outside Nairobi’s city centre.

With Nairobi experiencing congestion and Nairobi County trying to decongest, Syokimau and Mlolongo on Mombasa Road and locations on Thika Road have become popular with the construction of new residential developments.

“We have witnessed a heightened and increasing interest for properties in this locale.

“Much of the land here was bare just a few years ago,” said Leonard Onyancha, a Pam Golding resident agent for the Syokimau/Mlolongo area. But with the development of infrastructure, we have had people selling their apartments in Kileleshwa, Lang’ata and Donholm to buy homes and settle here.”

Like most upcoming developments, Pelican Villas will have a bio-digester that will purify water for gardening purposes. It will also have a borehole, a standby generator for common areas, paved sidewalks and ample parking space.

With construction already underway, the project is set for completion by January 2017. The villas will be sold at an introductory price of Sh12.5 million.