Shopping in Surulere, Lagos will climb several niches upscale when an ultra modern one-stop shopping facility being developed in that axis of town is completed in September. The facility known as Gbaja Shopping Mall in the heart of Surulere off Akerele Road and is easily accessible from Taslim Balogun Stadium axis. The mall, which is the first of its kind in Surulere comes complete with a banking hall, traditional market arrangement of kee clamp shops and a shopping complex.

Gbaja Shopping Mall is promoted and developed by DHB Construction Ltd, with Skye Bank Plc., providing financial muscle worth N250 million. It is a twenty-year build operate and transfer (BOT) arrangement between the developer and the Lagos State Government. “Every year we will be paying ground rent to Surulere Local Government and at the end of the BOT period it will be handed over to the local government.”

The mall is designed to ease shopping. “Users of the facility can do their shopping after withdrawing money from the bank,” said the Chief Executive Officer of DHB Construction Ltd, Chief Hakeem Alobo-Bakare.
The complex has three floors, one of which is slated for offices as well. There will be an event place on the third floor. “The only event place in Surulere is the Eagle Club Shell Club of those days and we are putting up an event place that will seat a thousand guests with a separate entrance and elevator.”

The shops are of various sizes ranging from 5sqm, 6sqm, 8sqm, 10sqm upwards and each square meter is N400,000 and they are for outright sales, he said.

The complex is designed to be well secured and would have a police post. It will be powered by a 500KVA generator in addition to public electricity. “Individual tenants or shop owners are not allowed to bring in their generators.”
Parking, Chief Alobo-Bakare said is no problem. “We have about a hundred slots for parking and like every market people come and go.”

The complex is designed to have a void façade in its middle and a walkway, which gives clear view of movement and activities to people on all floors. “When you’re on the first floor you can see what is happening on the ground floor and on the second and third floors. It is the same view for people on other floors. There will be an open skyline on top of the void that will be covered with transparent alluminium. “We don’t want to build an enclosed block.”

There are toilet facilities, six on each floor and split equally for male and female users. As construction is still in progress, prospective buyers can indicate if they want toilet facilities in their shops. “Two people have indicated and we have built them, Their shops are big enough to accommodate the facility,” said Alobo-Bakare, who has been in the construction industry in the last 30 years.

The complex is already piped for split unit airconditioners, wired for internet connectivity and other forms of communications. Tenants and owners of shops and offices will pay service charge for the up-keep of the mall and it will be managed by DHB Properties, a subsidiary of the developer.

He said the existing market people in the neighbourhood have already staked their claims and that “they have agreed to pay for the kee Clamps shops. They are the traditional owners of the land but it just because the government wants to build a befitting mega city having spent so much money on the redevelopment of Funso Williams Avenue (former Western Avenue), Adeniran Ogunsaya, Akerele and other link roads and they want a structure that will match what they spent so much on.”
The traditional market, he said is an attraction because “when we conceived the idea we thought of relocating them temporarily but we decided to leave them there because of the added value of advertisement. Whoever comes to the market will ask what is happening here.”

According to him costs of shops range from “N2 million to N40 million-N50 million” and that there is a payment plan, which begins with the purchase of a form from any Skye Bank branch or at the site for N7,500 and then pay 30 percent of the cost of the shop and the balance after 90 days. “Letter of allocation will be given to any person who pays the 30 percent. Outright payment attracts 5 percent discount.” According to him, Skye Bank could arrange mortgage for interested buyers if they are approached.
The construction is solid looking and it is built on a raft foundation and it is all frameworks. “The structure is very stable and we are using burnt bricks instead of sandcrete blocks and we are using very light materials for partitioning. He said vitrified tiles will be used on all the floors areas and various offices and shops will be done in alluminium grid with doors and windows.” The parking spaces will be well paved.

Provision, he said has been made for fire hydrant and that besides, the complex is insured along with the workman compensation insurance as specified by the bank. “Individual owners and tenants will insure their wares.” There is a borehole plant with water treatment plant and tank that can hold 4000 litres of water.
The complex has three entrances; one for the bank, shopping complex and for the kee Clamp and there will be no interface between the shops and Kee Clamps.



http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/business/building-properties/20899.html

We'll get there, it's just a matter of time,


Eko o ni baje o