SPAR to anchor Abuja Mountview mall
The Artee Group, operators of SPAR Hypermarket, has been chosen as the anchor tenant at the Mountview Shopping Centre, Abuja, following the signing of a lease agreement between it and Topwide Ventures Limited, developers of the mall.
The Mountview Shopping Centre is a 10,000-square-metre shopping mall jointly developed by Topwide Ventures and Richards Infrastructures Limited in a commercial and residential district of the Federal Capital Territory, and is being leased out by PropertyBank, managed by Propertyvault Limited, a subsidiary of Richards Infrastructures, and is designed to attract shoppers from Gwarimpa, Jabi, Life Camp, Mabushi and Utako, among others.
According to the partners, SPAR Hypermarket will occupy 3,000 square metres space in the mall.
The lease agreement was signed by Danie Grove of the Retail Development Team of the Artee Group; the Managing Director, Richards Infrastructures Limited, Mr. Andy Morkah; and a director of Topwide Ventures, Mr. Harris Okonkwo, in Lagos.
Discussions are also going on with several other national and international brands for spaces in the mall, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2016.
Morkah noted that the development would alleviate the shopping stress of the residents of the surrounding communities who currently have to go to the central area to shop.
“The mall is midway redesigned and upgraded to accommodate cinema halls and lounges, with better shopping facilities, and this has moved the construction cost to about N3bn,” he said.
The Chairman, Topwide Ventures and chief promoter of the project, Senator Annie Okonkwo, pledged that the developers would display corporate social responsibility by constructing a two- kilometre access road to link the shopping mall to the existing community roads.
Morkah noted that the complex would be properly managed to avoid value erosion and a disorganised setting.
PUNCH.
