Lekki Mall, 3 others up for sale in Novare’s surprise move

The property sales market in Nigeria has, in a surprise move by their developer, received four retail facilities located in Lagos and Abuja, the country’s federal capital city.

The four facilities owned by Novare Real Estate Nigeria Limited (NREN), an institutional investor and developer, are the Lekki Mall, Apo Mall Abuja, Novare Central Mall, and Gateway Mall Abuja.

Close market watchers have described this as a surprise from Novare –a commercial property development and management firm with a decade of experience in property development, and management across Nigeria and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Though no official reason has been given by the developer for this move, Estate Intel, an online property research platform which gave this hint, says that the sale of these properties may signify Novare’s exit from Nigeria as they are the only real estate investments the company has in the country.

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Novare was one of the few institutional investors that took the Nigerian retail market by storm, developing large-size Grade A retail properties in major cities of Nigeria. The firm contributed significantly to what was, arguably, a revolution in that segment of real estate in the country.

Its Lekki Mall, earlier named Novare Mall, remains the largest retail mall in Lagos. The mall which was completed in 2016 sits on about 22,000 square metre space along the Lekki-Ajah Expressway. It houses brands such as ShopRite, Genesis Deluxe, JED Lifestyle, Miniso, etc.

Read also: Retail momentum swings higher as Novare builds $83m Lekki Mall

The Apo Mall is located in the Dutse area of the FCT and occupies 8,000 square metres. It has a 97 percent occupancy rate as at June 2023 and houses notable brands like Megastores, PEP, BAFFI Furniture, Krispy Kreme, Shoprite, etc.

On its part, the Gateway Mall was completed in 2017 and is located along the airport road in Abuja. It sits on 14,000 square metres and houses firms such as BAFFI Furniture, Funworld, Genesis Deluxe Cinema, EHA Clinics, etc.

Novare Central, the fourth mall, is located in Wuse, Zone 5 area and occupies 11,000 square metres of land. It houses brands such as Shoprite, The Vue, Esteem Furniture, Active Leisure, etc.