By Dayo Ayeyemi
Despite the ongoing economic hardship in the country, Lagos state is expected to witness a beehive of activities in building construction, as 10 new projects have been earmarked for 2016 by private developers.
New Telegraph gathered that the projects, which include the developments of Orange Island, Lorenzo De’ Medici, Oasis Centre, Chelsea Hotel, Lagos Urban Rail Blue line, Marriott Lagos Waterfront Hotel, Atlantic Resort, Wing Office Complex, Kingsway Tower and No 4. Bourdillion, are expected to change the skyline of Lagos in the next 10 months. Already, works have commenced in some of the sites. Orange Island, which is a small city, is located in the Lekki area of the metropolis and covers 150 hectares of land, while Lorenzo De’ Medici, a residential development, covers 42,000 metre squares.
Full completion of both developments is expected in 2018. Oasis Centre, a retail and hospitality development, situated in Ikeja, covers 6,100 metre squares, while Chelsea Hotel is a commercial luxuryi, Lagos. Marriott Lagos Waterfront Hotel, Wing Office Complex and Atlantic Resort are being developed for commercial and hospitality respectively. Already, foreign and local investors in Lagos have completed a few office and commercial developments including Civic Centre Tower and Nestoil Tower in 2015. Justifying the new building developments, the Managing Director, MCO Real Estate, Munachi Okoye, said that the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy had not changed, pointing out that this would positively impact the real estate space going forward.
“Nigeria still has the huge demographic base of consumers coupled with the growing economy and a positive gross domestic product (GDP). There are a lot of opportunities waiting to be plugged; we are still seeing very good returns. There is a very strong demand for residential market,” said Okoye. According to research by Pam Golding Properties, South Africa’s leading estate agency, a combination of a growing economy, rapid expansion of the emerging middle classes, continued urbanisation and a younger generation with high aspirations help to explain the growth and increased level of investment in Lagos, Nigeria’s expanding real estate sector. He added that the burgeoning middle-class urban population in Nigeria, especially Lagos, would need more housing.
