STANLIB launches Arena Mall

By Our Reporter

Representatives from STANLIB Asset Management Limited, South Africa, were in Kampala to attend the media launch of the investment firm’s first property development in Uganda. The Arena Mall will be a 14,000-square meter shopping center development located at the intersection of two major thoroughfares – Kibuli and Nsambya Roads.

Located less than two kilometers south of the city’s central business district, on a steeply rising slope, The Arena Mall will offer panoramic views of the city scape and surrounding Nakasero. Designed with two levels of enclosed shopping space and a rooftop IMAX cinema, entertainment and restaurant space atop two levels of structured basement parking, The Arena Mall is set to be the destination for high quality retail, leisure and entertainment.

The site is easily accessible from the CBD through Kibuli Road on the north, Nsambya Road to the west, and Gaba Road from various southern suburbs. In close proximity to the site are the American embassy, Nsambya Hospital, the Kampala International University, Uganda Military Police Barracks, and a number of prominent schools, public offices, shopping and entertainment centers.

The Mall should be a welcome addition to the south-east suburbs, which are largely underserved by formal retail and leisure facilities. Over 87,000 households and 334,000 people reside within a 3-km radius of the site, but there are few quality, formal retail offerings in the catchment area, despite the annual population growth rate of 3.6% and a concentration of middle income households in this region.

Knight Frank Uganda is leading the leasing efforts and is finalizing binding offers to lease over 50% of the lettable space in the Mall to the likes of Shoprite, Woolworths, Deacons and Teranova. Century Cinemax will be launching its first IMAX in Uganda via The Arena Mall development. Ground breaking is expected to commence in April, with the Mall opening in November 2018.

STANLIB Investment Principal Nnema Byrd said, “We see a long-term growth trajectory for Uganda, on the backs of government spending on infrastructure. Kampala city is experiencing economic and population growth adding to the need for an increase in formal retail offerings. The macro outlook for Uganda is positive with the expected GDP growth at 5.7% by 2018, one of the fastest growing economies on the continent.