Money Markets
By SIMON CIURI
In Summary
- Public and private varsities have spent about Sh5bn on buying buildings and parking space in downtown Nairobi in the past five years.
Former President Mwai Kibaki was back in the
headlines in September when he sold a 14-floor building in central
Nairobi to Mt Kenya University (MKU) for Sh800 million, making it one of
the priciest real estate deals of the year.
Mt Kenya University founder and chairman Simon Gicharu said
the deal brought to an end a three-year bidding process for Union Towers
that later paved the way for the establishment of the institution’s
Virtual Learning Centre.
“We have been pursuing avenues to strengthen our
virtual learning programmes and will be using the premises to coordinate
it,” Mr Gicharu told the Business Daily, adding that the transaction
was closed for Sh800 million and financed through long-term debt from a
local lender.
Until the takeover, Union Towers belonged to
Parkway Investment Limited, a company Mr Kibaki co-owned with former
minister Njoroge Mungai.
Mr Gicharu said the university had found the
building’s location in Nairobi’s central business district (CBD)
attractive and suitable for its expansion. MKU is not new to Union
Towers having occupied a number of floors in the building on a long term
lease.
The building has in recent years become a key
learning hub in the CBD that also houses Nyeri-based Dedan Kimathi
University’s city campus.
MKU, a private university, operates 12 campuses in
Nairobi, Thika, Mombasa, Meru, Nakuru, Mumias, Eldoret, Kitale, Lodwar,
Kakamega and Kabarnet. It also has a campus in Kigali, Rwanda and a
marketing office in Juba, South Sudan.
MKU’s pursuit of a virtual learning platform makes
it the second institution this year after Kenyatta University to do so.
It remains to be seen how the programmes will impact access to and
quality of university education in Kenya.
The successful purchase of Union Towers should help
MKU grow its presence within Nairobi’s CBD where universities are
locked in a fierce battle for working students.
Universities have over the past eight years spent
billions of shillings in the purchase or leasing of buildings in Nairobi
and other major towns where they have set up campuses targeting
students who attend classes after work.
Both public and private universities are estimated
to have spent more than Sh5 billion on buying buildings and parking
areas in downtown Nairobi alone in the past five years.
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