Today, I decided to explore the project I have been watching come up over the last 2-3 years, Rosslyn Riviera. It is now open, but the place is desolate, with most of the tenants not yet in place.
Unlike the infamous Village Market (50/= everybody hata wa 5 minutes!) and the strategic Two Rivers (free if you stay more than 30 minutes), Riviera does not charge parking fees yet. There are several levels of underground parking, accessed via some steep and bendy drivess that will drive those Runda SUV moms crazy.
In my opinion, the workmanship is way better than what I saw at Two Rivers at close range. Two Rivers awed from a distance, but it is very shoddily finished.
Will it get full, or have we now reached a point where too many retailers are concentrated in less tan 2 kilometres of leafy suburb?
I don’t think the market has reached a saturation point if developers change the way they are building the malls, case in point: Two Rivers Mall
They acquired the land, over 100acres for development at just an excess of 1bn which values the land at the time of construction at just over 10m per acre
Now with the construction of the mall, the land inside the development has appreciated so much in capital gains that if today they were to sell of that land they would recoup the cost of the mall several times. This is a similar play that was used by one of the bitter co-founders of McDonalds who was minting lots of money via real estate worth of McDonalds whilst the franchise itself was making peanuts on shared revenue.
Now instead of relying on people to come from two Rivers, they are creating communities that live and shop in two Rivers and are trying to create a Tatu City though with no much media hogwash and pomp and glory like the former development which is embattled in dispute and stalled plans
Rosslyn Riviera, owned by Ben Gethi.
it’s gonna be an amazing place to hang out. it has an access gate into 2rivers mall.
I think it will offer some privacy, considering every black man with coins wants to visit 2rivers. This is where the whites will shop
Why are you so concerned about how whites will shop or if the malls are too big for them, or have too many blacks?? Lol Trust me, when whites build malls for themselves they’re usually thinking how to keep nyeuthis out. #notmyproblem
These developments are targeting the internatinal UN and ambassadorial market, which consist of young families on 5-year tours. Black/white is the kind of distinction only poorly informed minds make.
Just passed along Two Rivers. The outdoor parking lot is barely a fifth full on a Sunday afternoon.
Anybody who set up shop there must have a deep war-chest to survive the two years it could take to make the place popular. The fixed costs are very high as Kirubi & Co. didn’t invest 10 billion for fun.
And we wonder why all malls look the same, with the same familiar tenants, booooring; it is because they have the capital to wait. Mom 'n Pop operations do not.
