When it comes to operating in a conducive business environment with utmost value for money, national and multinational businesses in Nigeria are set for a whole new experience as The Wings Tower, a brand new office complex, berths on the shores of Lagos. The Wings is a one-stop office complex, located on Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Wings office complex, when completed, will have a 12-storey towers resting on a four-storey parking and reception platform, and will cost $180 million. The investors and developers of the project are: RMB Westport, Standard Bank, Argentil Associate Management, and Oando plc.
The vision of developing a twin tower tagged, Wings office complex was that of Jubril Adewale Tinubu, managing director of Oando, who with the development partners RMB Westport, Argentil and Standard Bank, have made this dream a reality. The leasing agents are Estate Links Limited (Gbenga Olaniyan and Associates) and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).
Conceived over five years ago, The Wings office complex being built by Cappa and D’Alberto, has a 32-month construction period and is expected to be completed by November 2016. It comprises 27,000m2 of lettable space, and upon completion, the complex will feature meeting rooms, jetty, public lobby, Porte Cochere, a waterfront restaurant, bank, and function deck for social events and corporate get-togethers. The building which also features a 700-bay parking lot is also accessible by boat via the Five Cowrie Creek.
Also, the towers will be a green certified building and have intelligent building management system, restaurant on ground floor with a waterfront terrace, jetty for waterways access, 24 hour power, installed with wet service management system for soil and waste water and ranked as energy efficient building. Access to the building is controlled via the public lobby, which leads on to the retail areas, restaurant and banking hall, as well as security reception desks in the lobbies of each tower.
“It’s an iconic building,” said Jubril Adewale Tinubu, Group Executive Officer of Oando Plc at the market launch of Wings last Tuesday in Lagos. “I think it’s a testimony that whatever we do in Oando, we do in a special way.”
Bidemi Fadayomi, head, asset development of Argentil Asset Management, financial advisor of Oando in the transaction, said the coming of The Wings will be setting the stage for a global type of business.
“I think one of the challenges of international businesses when they look to come into Nigeria is the availability of good quality real estate not just from an office perspective where they can run their business but also residential where they can house their employee,” Fadayomi said.
She further informed that “we saw that there was a gap between the expectation of the tenants and the reality on ground. So, I think that this building is the start to what would be Nigeria or Lagos State’s response in meeting international demand for real estate. It also sends the right signal to the international world that Nigeria is ready to play to international standard.”
Though, it is not definite that the office units are going to be sold or leased, for returns, Fadayomi said the consortium hopes to realise between 35 to 40 percent of the ROI.
“Rental levels are obviously under pressure,” Roy Hamlyn, development manager of RMB Westport, said. “We try to achieve a most competitive rental and we also try to achieve a rental that is comparative in the market.”
Each floor offers about 1000 square metres let on a single, dual, triple or quadruple tenancy. According to Fadayomi, “the rent is roughly about $1,000 per square metre.”
Already, one of the investors, Oando, an indigenous oil company has signed an agreement to lease one of the Towers while the other tower is open for commercial lease.
“We believe the building would be offering our tenants the service that will be unmatched within the industry. In terms of returns, we do believe from the investor’s side, it would be offering us above market returns,” Fadayomi said.
Chinwe Ajene-Sagna, regional director of Jones Lang Lasalle Nigeria, one of the leasing agents harped on the flexible payments pattern for tenants. “You can pay for the sites quarterly,” she said, “before or on the date of your quarterly payments.”
According to Michael O’ Malley, managing director, Rand Merchant Bank Westport, The Wings is offering prospective tenants in the market for the first time really superior accommodation in the commercial capital of Nigeria. “So, for the first time, an extremely well located building will be put into the market for tenants in a fantastic location,” O’Malley said.
O’ Malley also enthused that the presence of Cowrie creek on one side and Ozumba Mbadiwe on the other side excited the investors and developers stressing the building offers fantastic access from water and land, which also offers the tenant choice in accessing the building.
According to the developers, The Wings is now 70 percent completed. “Right now the project is about two-third of the way through construction and we are still within budget and we also have Cappa&D’Alberto, one of the best contractors. We are guarantying our clients a superior product. Our specialty has always been property development and we remain committed to delivering superior products. We are going to be offering something, which we believe is special and has never been seen in the market,” O’Malley said.
