English Point Marina Revisited

When hotelier Alnoor Kanji acquired a four-acre plot along Tudor creek near the Mombasa Showgrounds in 2007, he thought to himself: Why not put up some apartments and sell them off for a quick buck?

But that was before he took his time off one evening and sat there, studying the environment. “At the time we finalised the sale process, I hadn’t seriously thought of the type of investment we were going to put up.

“But after sitting there for a whole three hours, enjoying the luxury of the view, the tranquillity and the ambience, I knew I was sitting on not only a water-front property, but also a monument with huge potential,” he says.

“I went home, called my brother in London and told him we needed to change our game plan. My thinking was that, if we put up apartments and sold them, it would be a disservice to our tourist city.

“We had to come up with a facility that had a public component and boosted our tourism industry” says Kanji, who owns Pinewood Village Beach Resort in South coast.

Having lived in Vancouver, Canada — a town known for its water-front life — for over 10 years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kanji was convinced that the best land use they would make of the property was a marina.

From that point on, they started the hunt for the best architects to draw up plans for an international five-star marina complex.

Because of the complex nature of the project, the duo opted for the services of Broadway Malyan, an architectural firm based in London.

And so in two years’ time, the English Point Marina — for that is what the two brothers decided to name their project — will change the sea-front near Fort Jesus, Mombasa.

Estimated to cost Sh4 billion, the extraordinary development will move Mombasa higher up on the world map, and transform the tourist town into a luxury boats facility and water sports destination.

The complex’s four four-storey blocks consisting of 96 three-bedroom apartments and eight five-bedroom penthouses is designed in such a manner that all rooms have a sea view.

The apartment blocks will also be built in an elevated position on the creek overlooking Mombasa Old Town and the 16th-Century Fort Jesus, two important tourist attractions in the region.

The complex will also house a 26-room hotel, a spa, a gym, a five-star international marina, a water sports centre, restaurants and an underground parking lot for about 200 vehicles.

Kanji says the developer will manage the marina, while investors will provide accommodation by renting out their apartments.

The project design indicates that the marina will also be connected to Mombasa Island to ease traffic congestion at the Nyali Bridge, and will also be accessible to the public.

This convenient link with Mombasa Island will enable people to shuttle between Nyali and the town within a very short period of time by just taking a boat from the site Island, where a jetty has existed for centuries.

Keen investors are already lining up to own a section of the marina. Just two months after the contractor broke the ground to lay the foundation for the four apartment blocks, over 20 investors have committed themselves to acquire some of the 96 lifestyle apartments.

With each apartment going for over Sh50 million and the penthouse in the upwards of Sh150 million, Kanji figured that it would be difficult to convince somebody to cough all that money, so he invested in a model apartment adjacent to the property.

The marina will be the first of its kind along the east coast of Africa, and will join two others along the entire eastern coastline, from Cape to Cairo — one in Egypt and the other in South Africa.

It will have a capacity to accommodate 88 boats, with all facilities to cater for the boats that will include service and an oil jetty which, according to tourism industry marketers, will position Kenya, known for its safaris and pristine beaches, as one of the most favourable destinations for high-end tourists.

Source: Daily Nation