Money Markets
An artist’s impression of a house at the Karunguru Coffee and Golf Estate. PHOTO | COURTESY
By John Gachiri, jgachiri@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
The family of Kenyatta-era powerful permanent
secretary Geoffrey Kariithi will in September break ground for a
multi-billion shilling golf estate hived off a Kiambu coffee farm.
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Kibuga Kariithi, son of the late PS, said the family plans
to turn part of its coffee farm in Kiambu County into a real-estate
development that on completion will be worth Sh15 billion.
Ground breaking for the first phase of Karunguru
Coffee & Golf Estate is expected next month. The construction will
be in three phases spread over the next three years.
Mr Kariithi said the decision to turn part of the
550-acre coffee farm into a property investment has been in the pipeline
since the family bought the land from an Asian trading company in 1974,
but only gained traction over the last few years.
“It (the plan) has been growing over the last 40
years but it picked up in the last two to three years,” Mr Kariithi told
the Business Daily in an interview.
The project off Thika Road will sit on some 230
acres, with another 200 retained for coffee farming. A 9-hole golf
course will be located on 120 acres of land.
Overall there will be some 180 houses consisting of
villas, apartments and cabins, set to go for sale for between Sh57
million and Sh75 million.
The acreage to remain under coffee will be used as
an agro-tourism attraction similar to the wine estates of South Africa,
he added. Kenya tea and milk processing estates have also been hosting
such tours.
Karunguru will have a commercial village, petrol stations, a coffee museum and horse stables.
Its financing will be through a mixture of debt and
equity with most of the money expected to come from pre-sales that have
already kicked off.
Mr Kariithi said debt will be used sparingly as developers already have funds for the dams, roads and other infrastructure.
“We have enough funding for the entire infrastructure,” he said.
AIB Capital is the financial advisor while PKF has
been appointed the project manager. Achera & Partners are the
project architects.
Property dealers say there is a growing market for
high-end gated communities located outside Nairobi due to congestion of
traditional high-end estates and lack of planning.
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