Nairobi: Demand for Commercial Property drives building boom in UpperHill

If you have been out of Kenya for the last 10 years,you would not recognise upperhill Nairobi.10 years ago was a vastly empty,with only a few apartment buildings.

Upperhill is situated about 5 mins drive from the city center.Since 2002,demand for commercial property for rent and lack of space for expansion in the CBD has driven the growth of Upperhill into a sort of 'mini city" within Nairobi.

Coca Cola,GeoMaps,Blue Shield,NIC bank,Coopertaive Bank,Imperial Bank,the British council and a host of other companies have set up base in Upperhill.Upperhill is particularly attractive to investors because of its clos proximity to the city center and its serene environment.

Most of the parcels of Land in Upperhill are government owned.And about 30% are undeveloped.
The empty spaces that characterized Upperhill a few years ago are no more.Glass skyscrapers and fancy archicture dot the small but growing skyline of upperhill.Its almost as if its a competition.With buildings competing for the best and most innovative look.

What is surprising is that there are a few parcels of land left in this prime area.God only knows how much this parcels of land are worth now.But one thing is for sure,if there is a private land owner in this area,he's/she's a millionaire waiting to happen.Donald Trump should have a Trump Towers here!the tallest building in Nairobi(and East and Central africa),the Times Tower has 35 floors.A building taller than this would generate enough hype in the whole region.And there would be no better place to have it than the Upperhill area.

In the meantime,take a look at the fancy buildings dominating upperhill now.














Above is Imperial Bank,NIC Bank and CoopBank.


NOTE:for Potential investors to Nairobi or Kenya visit Kenya Investment Authority for more details on investment opportunities regulations and general information.

NEXT Post:Exploring the rising mall craze in Nairobi.

Kenya:Nairobi a "New York'" in Africa in the Making.

If you read about people who have travelled across the 3 cities in East Africa,Nairobi,Dar e salaam and Kampala,most people will remember Nairobi as the "New York" of East and Central Africa.

Why is this so?unlike the sleepy coastal city of Dar,or the small CBD of Kampala,Nairobi is big,bustling,alive and most of all fast!

Nairobi comes to life as early as 6.30am,with the first workers who came early to beat the morning traffic.

Nairobi has one of the worst traffic jams in Africa,with millions of Kenya shillings going to waste in man hours.
Due to an economic boom since 2003,more people have been able to afford cars,and hence more cars on the road.

Morning traffic

Thika Road which is considered to be the busiest highway in East and central Africa,handles well over 400,000 cars a day!

So what is so unique about Nairobians?the typical Nairobian is well informed,upto date on current affairs and trendy.Tourists are usually surprised at the sophistication exhibited by Nairobians.This is evident in the food department.Where you will find local food restaurant alongside Chinese,Japanese,Thai,Western Food and Italian menus.

The clubs are also no exception.Clubs catering to mostly European clientèle and clubs for the Kenyan clientèle.Strip Clubs are now a common feature in Nairobi,with the likes of Apple Bees being very popular.

Nairobi is a drinking capital.With over 20,000 licensed bars and pubs!Virtually every estate,shopping area has more than one pub.When every company in Kenya was recording losses during the Post-election violence,one company was recording profits,East African Breweries.Kenya's leading beer maker.

What else makes Nairobi stand out?who can speak of Nairobi without speaking of its unique transport industry:the Matatus.These are minivans which have been "pimped out" with loud sound systems and extravagant paint jobs and graffiti.A trip to Nairobi cannot be complete without a ride in a Matatu.

Graffiti on a Matatu



a 14 seater mini van with a 42 inch Flat screen Tv



This series of blog posts is dedicated to promoting Nairobi(and Kenya as a whole) as a preferred tourists destination in tandem with the government efforts to restore Kenya's image to the world.

For budget hotels in Nairobi

A list of cheap budget hotels in Nairobi

A list of luxury Hotels in Nairobi

Kenya: The New Modern Nairobi

Nairobi Skyline




As tourists flock back to Kenya after a rough start in the year,the face of Nairobi has slowly but surely turned for the better.

From a mean, dirty city back in the 90's Nairobi has been transformed to a clean safe bustling city.

Potholed roads in the CBD are a thing of the past,and mounds of garbage surrounded by Street children are no more.

The transformation of the city started with the change of government in 2003.After years of mismanagement,the Nairobi city council underwent radical changes,with the aid of Nairobi businessmen and the government a beautification of the city was started.Mounds of garbage left uncollected were disposed of,and street families and children were taken off the streets.Buildings were ordered repainted and cleaned.

6 years later the fruits of those efforts can be seen.Nairobi is now pedestrian friendly and astonishingly clean.

Clean Streets and Trees planted

The Pedestrian Friendly streets(below).Streets were widened and some roads made into single lanes.

The modern Skyline.(below)

The New benches(below) put for relaxing after a long stroll around the city

Mudavadi Revokes Uhuru's Scandalous nomination list.

Kenya's Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta is making headlines again for all the wrong reasons.In his short stint as Local Government minister Uhuru managed to unscrupulously appoint 200 extra councilors illegally, contravening the Local Government act laws.He overlooked the one third rule which states a minister should appoint a third of the councilors elected in every civic authority.


Uhuru picked and dropped councilors at will,with the most contentious one being Ms Esther Passaris from ODM whose name was dropped from the list of potential Nairobi Mayoral list contenders.

The present Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi yesterday revoked the nomination of 57 councilors and appointed another 64 whose names were struck out by Uhuru.
He also sacked 41 public officers who were illegaly appointed by Uhuru.

However Ms Passaris name was still left out by Mudavadi,who said that she had developed other interests.

Mudavadi's act could open a flurry of court cases against the government by dejected councilors.But again this would drag Uhuru's name into the circus,him being responsible for the illegal appointments.

There is damning evidence that Uhuru received bribes from interested councilors for nominations.His aide was caught on camera receiving money from interested peoples.

Personally am very disappointed at Uhuru's errant behavior.He's slowly becoming the face of corruption in Kenya.this is especially serious since he's a potential presidential candidate.
With Land ownership scandals,corrupt deals and now the illegal nomination of councilors fiasco,Uhuru is an embarrassment and the biggest disappointment in the Grand coalition government.

Craig on Absurdity of Life Without God

Having finished listening to william Lanes Craig lecture on absurdity of Life without God,it made me see life and existence in a totally new light.

Watch Here

or HERE

For a moment what is the purpose of existence if there is no God?

If there is a God,then there is continuity of life through eternal existence with God at the end of this mortal existence.

But if God does not exist then why do humans live life as if it matters?

The earth's resources are diminishing,and environmental degradtion is killing our planet.
The sun is dying,in 3-5 billion years from now it will obliterate the earth and most if not all of the inner planets.Life will cease to exist on earth.

The universe itself as we know it is finite,a time will reach when the universe will be empty space.All stars having died and matter reduced to small quakes.

Morality

Whats the point of people being good or bad?if ultimately everyone will die and there will be no human race?

There is no ultimate difference between hitler and mother teresa.At one point in the future,no one will be there to account for their deeds.They were simply two organisms which acted differently and ceased to exist.

All the charity organizations,food programmes,hunger walks, and special programmes to help the needy and suffering in society are pointless in the long run.Everyone will die.

Our justice system is if no use,since the murderers,robbers and the good people all have the same fate.

Meaning of Life

Another question we can ask is,what is the ultimate significance of a persons life?If a person lives and ceases to exist,then that persons existence has no ultimate meaning.Ultimately,it would have made no difference if he lived or not.

But you might say,"he's or her life changed peoples lives,made a contribution while he was alive."

But thats only a relative significance.He's life was only meaningful for a certain period,and besides since everything that he ever influenced will also cease to exist,then this significance is still meaningless.Its like a death row convict advising a fellow death row convict not to commit suicide on the eve his execution.

The human race is really not special after all.Mosquitos and flies and roaches all have the same fate.Human beings do not ultimately have any special existence compared to bacteria or worms.all our fates are the same.

All our efforts of science,knowledge,medicine and technological advancements are all in vain.We build cities,towns,better drainage,try to create efficient systems,end poverty, but all this is of no use if they will all cease to exist.