Five years after its projection completion date, Hazina Trade Center is finally open to new tenants following its completion.
The Tower known commonly on the streets as Nakumatt Lifestyle is an 18 storey mixed commercial development owned principally by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
On Thursday, NSSF placed its first advertisements for spaces on the extended block which are now ready for occupation in local dailies.
Now known as the Hazina Trade Centre, the commercial hub on the Moktar Daddah Street in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) is letting out spaces of between 1,400 square feet and 12,000 square feer (sq. ft).
Further, the center comprises of three, pre-existing storeys making up a shopping arcade with Naivas as the anchor tenant while the new balance of 15 floor is purely office spaces.
Works to the extension of Hazina Towers have been underway since 2013 but dragged on from the initial completion date in 2016 on the back of an array of challenges including financial constraints and legal suits.
For instance, the now defunct Nakumatt Holdings moved to court where it argued construction works ‘kept away its customers’.
In a case of poetic justice however, NSSF would in later years throw out the retailer after it defaulted on its rent arrears.
At the same time, NSSF wrangled with the project contractor China Jiangxi over costs related to the delay of construction works.
The project has moreover been the subject of a probe by the Public Investments Committee (PIC) over the potential misappropriation of public funds.
The presently standing Hazina Towers block is about half the dream envisaged as the project desired to be a high rise 36-storey building.
