Two Rivers Cascadia Apartments: Centum Investments has taken a Sh. 2 billion loan from the Co-operative Bank to build apartments. The apartments will be built at the firm’s Two Rivers land.
Disclosures contained in a report by Centum shows that the loan agreement was signed by Centum’s fully-owned subsidiary Uhuru Heights Limited. Uhuru Heights will build one, two and three-bedroom apartments that are being sold at between Sh. 8.5 million and Sh. 24.5 million.
“Co-operative Bank of Kenya approved a Sh. 2 billion project finance facility during the year. The facility is earmarked for the completion of the Cascadia Apartments being developed by Uhuru Heights Limited,” Centum said.
Co-operative Bank was among the top financiers that saw the birth of East Africa’s largest mall, Two Rivers. In 2019, Centum announced that it had repaid a Sh. 8 billion loan it took from Co-operative Bank to develop the Two Rivers Mall in Nairobi.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm used a new loan from South Africa’s Standard Bank to retire the Co-op Bank debt. “On the Two Rivers Mall, we had secured an Sh. 8 billion development finance facility with Co-op Bank for the then greenfield site,” Centum’s chief financial officer Samuel Kariuki said.
Initially, Co-op Bank funded Two River’s administrators, Two Rivers Lifestyle Company Sh. 1 billion to buy the 100 acres for the mall.
“Co-operative Bank had been involved throughout the life cycle of this project. The bank was involved in the acquisition of the 100-acre land parcel by way of advancing the first Sh. 1 billion to Centum,” said Gideon Muriuki, Co-op Bank chief executive officer.
When the construction phase kicked off, Co-op Bank extended another loan of Sh. 8.24 billion to the project. “The bank was subsequently involved in structuring the financing deal right from conceptualization and later advanced a project financing facility of Sh. 8.24 billion ($80 million) for the development,” he said.
Shock as over 700,000 Kenyans lose their jobs in a span of months
The current loan has a maturity period of three years and an effective interest rate of 11.6 percent. Co-op Bank has already disbursed Sh. 137.1 million. The loan is secured by the collections from the sale of apartments and the project itself. “For investors, Cascadia Apartments offers competitive entry prices into the Two Rivers mixed use community. This ensures compelling rental yields with reliable capital appreciation driven by an experienced urban management team,” said Centum.