Mombasa residents will be given first priority in Phase 2 of the Sh6 billion Buxton Point affordable housing project.
GulfCap Real Estate, the developer of the Buxton Point in Mombasa and Starehe Point in Nairobi, on Saturday, urged Mombasa residents to take up the offer because the project mainly targets them.
The majority of the buyers of the 584 units of Phase 1 are from Mombasa, although there are buyers from other parts of the country, the developer said on Saturday.
About 60 of the buyers are residents of the former Buxton Estate.
Martin Kariuki, the GulfCap Real Estate head of investments and sales, said Phase 1 gobbled about Sh2 billion, and one-, two- and three-bedroom units went for Sh2.3 million, Sh3.6 million and Sh4.7 million respectively.
Phase 2, whose groundbreaking will be done by President William Ruto in two weeks’ time, will be bigger and set to have about 1,500 units including 16-storey blocks.
However, the prices there will be higher with one-, two- and three-bedroom units going for Sh2.9 million, Sh4.4 million and Sh5.9 million respectively.
“Things have changed. The economy is not the same and the rate of the dollar has gone up. Everything has gone up,” Kariuki explained.
GulfCap Real Estate has become the first private developer to deliver affordable housing units in partnership with the national and county governments of Mombasa.
Some of the buyers on Saturday toured their new homes as they finalized the paperwork in readiness to move in.
Mumtaz Ahmed, one of the homeowners, said she and her family are impressed with the development.
“I’m so impressed with this place. They have set up this place according to our community needs,” Ahmed said.
For her, the most impressive thing is the set-up of special areas for both Christian and Muslim children to study the Bible and Quran.
“You can also see the swimming pool, which is a very good thing for the community,” Ahmed said.
She said though the project has been delayed a bit, it was worth the wait.
She paid for the two-bedroom unit in instalments over the last two years.
GulfCap Real Estate CEO Chris Ochieng the unique thing about Buxton Point is the clubs in the estate.
“We’ve gone a step beyond what other developers are doing. We’ve brought in a lifestyle manager,” Ochieng said.
The lifestyle manager will oversee the different clubs that will be set up in the gated community.
Buxton Point boasts a basketball court, a seven-a-side football pitch, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, and for the bookworms, a library.
This means there will be a basketball club, a football club, a swimming club, a book club, among other clubs that will be made up of mostly residents.
The facilities will be public, meaning non-residents may use them but only after registering as members of the clubs and will have to adhere to the rules and regulations set forth by the clubs.
“We are not only giving a facility but making the people involved in living in that facility,” Ochieng said.
There will also be early childhood centres where babies will be taken care of as parents go to work but will be able to check online how their babies are doing at the centre.
There will also be tuition facilities for graduates.
On security, Ochieng assured residents there will be 24/7 security with CCTV cameras mounted at vantage points.
“Buxton Point is a gated community of 2,000 units. We have three main access points that will be thoroughly manned 24/7,” the CEO said.
Although there will be no perimeter wall, there are shops front the outside and they will act as the perimeter wall.
The shops will be accessible to the public.
“However, people on the roadside cannot come into Buxton Point. There are controlled gates which have locked each and every area. So there is no instance where somebody who doesn’t live in Buxton can access the premises without accessing our gates, which are also access-controlled,” Ochieng explained.
Those registered as buyers will be issued with car stickers for their cars and a card system will be in place so that for one to access the premises they will have to swipe their way in.
“We do one ID, one homeowner system here at Buxton Point. So whoever has bought a unit here in Phase 1 cannot buy a unit in Phase 2,” Ochieng said.
He said all homeowners will be issued with their title deeds.
