The three-phase journey of Sarit Centre

Sarit Centre has a new look.

The giant shopping centre at the heart of Westlands is undergoing phase III expansion which is turning it into a scenic architectural piece.

Construction of the new phase which cost Sh4 billion commenced in 2017 and will add 300,000 sq ft to the current 500,000 sq ft the mall sits on.

While building works are still ongoing, occupancy on the lower ground floor and the ground floor has already begun with tenants filling up most of the stalls.

Some existing occupants of Sarit's old complex such as Textbook Centre, Jewel Art and Goodlife Pharmacy have already taken up spaces in the new building which will provide more space for their operations.

New tenants include Miniso, LC Waikiki, Nairobi Sports House, Swarovski, Mac cosmetics, Suzie Beauty among others.

The extension was informed by high competition in the high-end retail space industry with malls such as Westgate Mall- just a few metres away from Sarit, Two Rivers Mall in Ruaka, The WaterFront in Karen, Village Market along Kiambu road all striving to provide luxury shopping experiences. 

Phase III of the mall is primarily retail

The extended space will also house a four-screen cinema, an exhibition hall, an open-air roof garden, children's play centre and an indoor food court.

Within the expansion plans, the mall will also include an international standard convention centre, a 5-star international brand hotel, a large parking silo and commercial towers with a helipad.

On top of the parking silo, there will be a gym and a trampoline park.

“We want to be able to meet the demands of our customer base by providing them with world-class facilities so they can find everything they need here,” Sarit Centre finance manager Atul Shah said.

The new phase also houses one of the largest Carrefour branches in the country which covers 70,000 sq ft of the lower ground floor.

The old complex is also being renovated with new wall and floor tiles and some glass walls to make it look similar to the new phase.

“We plan to have seven phases of this mall in the future,” Atul added.

Challenges

The plan to expand Sarit centre was initiated 10 years ago by the management and they already had a design to start developing in 2014.

However, the September 2013 Westgate attack forced them back to the drawing board as the initial plans included an underground parking lot which would be risky in the event of such an attack.

This is what informed the parking silo adjacent to phase III.

Redesigning commenced in 2014 where Sarit engaged international architects to develop a masterplan the mall's extension.

The road network around Sarit Centre was also a challenge as they needed to make sure they had enough road infrastructure to allow customers access to the mall.  

The management decided to develop the Lower Kabete Road to Peponi Road with their own funds to address this after consultation.

Ring Road which also accesses Sarit centre is also being expanded to a dual carriage by the state.

In February, the owners of Sarit Centre were ordered by City Hall to stop constructing the new wing which was said to have encroached on a public road.

They had to stop the expansion for three weeks and engaged with the authorities where they presented all their approval plans and papers from the county and they resolved the issue.

This slowed down the expansion which saw the lower ground and ground floors expected to be opened in March being opened in June this year.

Some retailers who wanted to set up shop in the new phase also had clearance issues at the Mombasa port where the Kenya Bureau of Standards claimed they did not reach their standards.

This is because most of the tenants import their goods from outside the country as they are international retailers who want to set up shop in Kenya.

The issues on clearance led one of the retailers, Woolworths, who were importing clothes from South Africa to delay opening, they had planned to open in May but will have to open in late August or early September.

The delay has resulted in a ripple effect, with management missing out rent from tenants such as Woolworths who are yet to begin operations. 

In May 2018, a fire erupted on the ground floor of Sarit centre which spread from a copier shop. This led the mall to close down for two weeks for renovation to take place hence slowing down the expansion process for a while.

History

Sarit Centre is the oldest mall in Nairobi.

The first phase of the mall was completed in 1983.

By the end of 1984, the mall was fully let and thriving in business.

It started with a dream of two brothers of the Rughani family to build a city within a city in 1976, the vision was born to build the Sarit Centre.

The Rughani family started selling textbooks in Karatina, Central Kenya, where they operated Rughani Bookshop.

They teamed up with Vidhu Shah family of Murang’a, where they ran the Vidhu Shah Bookshop, the two families saw a business opportunity in the future of the young nation.

They teamed up to start Text Book Centre which was the first tenant at Sarit.

In 1976 Mankelalbhai Rughani returned from a trip to London having visited the Brent Shopping Centre and was determined to build a similar complex in Nairobi.

Within the first two years of operation, the mall was already fully occupied.

In 1973 His Holiness Sat Guru Pujya Hariram Bapa blessed the land upon which Sarit Centre is built on, as he was the one who suggested the land in the first place.

In 1986 Sarit Centre lit up the Nairobi skyline over Christmas.

The second phase of the mall was developed in 1997.

The mall has been developing steadily over the past 36 years of its existence.