In what could be described as a milestone on the way to completing the 10,000 square metre Mountview Mall—a retail development in the commercial and residential district of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja—Topwide Ventures Limited recently signed an agreement with Artee Group, the operators of SPAR hypermarket, for 3,000 square metres space at the retail centre.
The new deal, expected to increase the nation’s retail space with over 70,000sqm by the end of this year, will position SPAR as the anchor tenant in the shopping mall jointly developed by Topwide Ventures and Richards Infrastructures Limited.
SPAR, a Dutch multinational retail chain, has global presence in 41 countries across 4 continents with over 12,500 stores. SPAR International has franchised the brand to Artee Group for Nigerian operations and operates stores in the hypermarket format in Nigerian retail space where it has the largest number of hypermarket stores.
Its product range cuts across a very wide spectrum of consumption needs and aspirations and its product range in Mountview Mall will include grocery, bakery, butchery, fruits & vegetables, hot meals, wine & spirits, fast moving consumer goods and consumer electronics.
Others are large & small home appliances mobile phones, laptops & tablets, and lifestyle range consisting of perfumes, watches, jewellery and home & office furniture. Given the product range and retail experience of over 27 years, it makes sense to have SPAR as the anchor tenant.
Mountview Mall is being leased on the platform of PropertyBank, managed by Propertyvault Limited, a subsidiary of Richards Infrastructures, and is designed to attract shoppers from Gwarimpa, Jabi, Life Camp, Mabushi, Utako and other parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Danie Grove, associated with Retail Development Team of Artee Group, Andy Morkah, Managing Director of Richards Infrastructures Limited, and Harris Okonkwo, a Director at Topwide Ventures signed the lease agreement in Lagos recently.
Already, lease discussions are on with several national and international brands for shop spaces in the mall and these include Smartmark, Lego, Time Keepers International, Samsung, Double Four Restaurant, FEP, Mr Price, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, Addidas and Mopheth Pharmacy etc. Other notable names in the retail sector are also showing interest to take up spaces in the mall which would be completed by the first quarter of 2016. Nigeria’s retail space has spiked new interests in recent time with Shoprite, home grown hypermarket retail chain SPAR Park n Shop, Game, Mr. Price, Wrangler, Etam, Lacoste and Cold Stone showing huge commitment to further spread their footprints having occupied nearly all of the country’s retail space estimated to be a little above 100,000 square metres.
Reports say the huge demand for retail space is fuelled by a fast-growing and aspiring population with considerable buying power, rapid urbanisation and improved infrastructure to invest in retail and mixed-use developments with multi-national anchors in state capitals and major cities in the country. Mountview Mall, still under construction by SSL Project Limited as main contractor, is a one-stop shop for such necessities as fashion, electronics, ICT appliances and consumables, building materials, retail super mart, banking halls etc. Amenities consist of large paved and adequate parking space, CCTV on perimeter fence and inside the mall, highly skilled man guards and police presence, restaurants, two cinema halls and lounges. Other provisions are maintenance office and ready artisans.
Chuka Uroko
