Sudhir’s Kingdom Kampala Mall

The US$300 million property is already attracting top corporate clients

Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | The recently opened Kingdom Kampala Mall is already attracting top clients that consist of corporate companies, civil society organisations and government agencies and ministries, according to Prabhat Mishra, the General Manager at Crane Management Services Limited.

Crane Management Services Limited is a subsidiary of the Ruparelia Group of companies that offer property management services.

Speaking to The Independent in an interview on June.08, Mishra said they are impressed with the bookings so far and are ready to offer first class service to tenants.

Located along Nile Avenue in Kampala city, the Kingdom Towers is an additional investment to Ruparelia Group of companies.

The Mall sits on a 14-acre piece of land located on Nile Avenue, Yusuf Lule Road and Dewinton Road, just to the North-East of Kampala Central Business District.

The facilities at the Mall are expected to compliment the ones already existing nearby which include Garden City, Nakumat Oasis Mall and Crested Towers that houses Uganda’s largest bank, Stanbic.

This comes as the latest Knight Frank’s Kampala Market Update for the first half of 2018 shows that there is limited vacant Grade A space in the core central business district and secondary office locations available on the market.

The market update says, the market expects the supply gap in Grade A office space to narrow in the medium term given the number of good quality developments in the pipeline.

The report said the yields for Grade A space were recorded at 9%-10% during the fast half of 2018, with the average net rent per square meter standing at  $15-$16 in the period under review.

Mishra said they are not worried about the competition from the surrounding facilities.

“We have set our standards; the building meets international standards and rules,” he said.

He added that the site has excellent visibility and access which will be further improved by planned road upgrades.

He added that they have laid fiber optic cables for MTN Uganda and Airtel to ease communication around the facility.

Construction on Kingdom Kampala started off in 2006 after Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal leased 15 acres of prime land in the center of Kampala from the government of Uganda for 99 years.

Alwaleed’s company, Kingdom Holding, was supposed to build a five star hotel to be opened in 2009. But because of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, Kingdom Holding failed to mobilise financing to complete the Hotel, and in 2016, Ruparelia’s Crane Management Services acquired the property and restarted construction work.

The project is a blend of light retail as well as 10 floors of office space offering 22,000m2 of let table space – 18,000metres square of office space and 4,000 metres square of retail as well as parking for up to 450 cars.

The building has 2-floors of retail space, altogether, a total of 47 units, linked by an elevator. The building has been fitted with a modern sprinkler fire suppression system consisting of a 200,000-litre water tank and two fire pumps with a back-up generator.

There is a separate holding water tank with a capacity of 150,000 litres.

The building is also equipped with six lifts – four with a capacity of 13 passengers and two with a capacity of 20 passengers.

It also has three 500kva backup generators and has been fitted with 400 CCTVs for security management.

Rajiv Ruparelia, the managing director of Ruparelia Group, said the rent fees in the Mall are affordable and determined by negotiations between the client and the management.

He said the building has been designed to create unmatched shopping and working environments in line with the group’s philosophy of satisfying the unmet need for affordable modern space.

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