Investors, tenants jostle for Lagos Trinity Towers
THE flagship project by The City of David, a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) ñ Trinity Towers has become the toast of real estate investors and tenants, as the contractors target structural completion in the last quarter of the year.
Trinity Towers is a unique and innovative masterpiece, meticulously designed mixed development of commercial that offer leisure space. It is located at the heart of the fast developing commercial centre of Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The 21st century style structure is within easy reach of Lagos finest commercial and residential environments and has neighbours such as City of David Church, Four Points by Sheraton, Lagos Oriental Hotel, Exxon Mobil Headquarters, The Palms Shopping Mall, The Incubator and Get Arena. It is tagged as the first TriTower building in West Africa sitting on a transfer beam above five floors.
According to Mr. Gbenga Olaniyan the Principal Partner of Gbenga Olaniyan & Associates (Estate Surveyors & Valuers), joint marketing consultants with Knight Frank, the project is “a unity of three towers combined into structural beauty and functionality, Trinity Towers poses to offer the best of environments for business and leisure.”
Upon completion, the development will boast of 13,320sqm of contemporary real estate spanning 12 floors with parking for around 670 cars in the multi-storey car park, 5,000 seater concert hall and indoor amusement for children.
Other key features include a retail therapy for the shopaholic, two cinema halls, a gymnasium, rooftop swimming pool, helipad, medical centre, cafe and restaurant, multi-purpose halls, banking halls, and ATM gallery.
The project also comes with multi-storey car park on split levels for approximately 670 cars; two cinema halls; conference and multipurpose halls; retail area; restaurant; games arcade; food court; gymnasium and wellness centre.
It includes medical centre ;† recreation zone; two banking halls; ATM Gallery; 5, 000 seater concert hall; rooftop tennis court; rooftop terrace; rooftop swimming pool; helipad; 12 passenger lifts; one goods lift; automated and integrated lighting, sound and video system as well as tenant-dedicated external gar- den terraces protected by a lattice framework.
Olaniyan disclosed that 12 floors comprising offices over 500 square metres each with retail and entertainment spaces, totaling 7,630 sqm are available to let or for long lease. This comprises of five floors in the north and south towers respectively.
The Guardian learnt that currently, a full financial commitment has been made by Access Bank on one of the two banking halls in the towers. In addition to this, offices, a reputable cinema operator, restaurants, retail space users, amongst others have also made commitment to take up lease of spaces in the towers based on their needs and requirements for the operation of their business.
He said: “Some prospective tenants have made financial commitment, while others have made contractual commitments with a view to making full payment upon completion of the project.”
He also disclosed that the Trinity Towers offer an attractive investment option for long lease of up to 50 years, which is negotiable. Leases of the offices for early commitment are at N125,000.00 per sqm per annum. (This is very conservative compared to the market average for “A” grade properties of N170,000/m2 PA)
“An early entry into this ‘best in class’ property with an opportunity to adjust to specification with early commitment into long lease option is indeed as good as an outright sale as an adult buyer practically holds the space beyond his life time,” he said.
The notable offerings of this long lease option are as follows: ONE: Stability: Unlike the common short lease arrangement, the long lease offering serves up security on investment as well as cuts out the cost associated with relocation, new premises renovation and fits outs. Two:appreciation/annuity: A “buy to let” investor will expect to receive direct income as cash flow but over time also witness capital appreciation as the property increases value
THREE: Predictability: It helps with long term forecasting and budgeting while helping the tenantowner withstand economic volatility.
FOUR: Strong bargaining power for concessions and improvements: Early entrants will be able to dictate to a large extent the finishes on their floors as well as alterations within limits. FIVE: Alienability of rights to the lease: Investors will also be able to transfer their leases subject to the consent of the owners of the property.