A section of Muthaiga Golf Club. The facility, located next to the lush woodlands of Karura Forest, has an 18-hole championship course and a club house. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Muthaiga Golf Club has invited global hotel chains to submit expressions of interest (EOI) to build and manage a high-end, 200-room hotel that will be surrendered to the members after an agreed period.
The proposed luxury hotel targeting business travellers is expected to open in January 2017 offering accommodation and conference facilities.
Kenya’s premier golf club, Muthaiga, is seeking international investors to build a Sh5.8 billion ($64.5 million) five-star hotel overlooking the golf course.
The club has invited global hotel chains to submit expressions of interest (EOI) to build and manage a high-end, 200-room hotel that will be surrendered to the members after an agreed period.
The proposed luxury hotel targeting business travellers is expected to open in January 2017 offering accommodation and conference facilities.
“The need to develop a hotel has been driven by the growing demand for quality hotel services for business travellers,” Muthaiga Golf Club said in a statement.
“The entire development is expected to be operated by an international hotel chain under the design-finance-build-operate and transfer (BOOT) arrangement,” said the club.
The club opted for the BOOT model given the high capital outlay required for the project. Lease charges on the development and structural designs of the planned hotel will be disclosed once a developer has been picked.
“We are at the initial stages. Those details will come out later.”
Muthaiga Golf Club is banking on its proximity to the city centre as well as the diplomatic hub of Gigiri to woo business travellers to the proposed hotel.
The golf club, located in Nairobi’s upmarket Muthaiga residential area, boasts of an elite membership including retired president Mwai Kibaki, former finance minister Amos Kimunya, Industrialisation secretary Adan Mohamed, Vivo Energy boss Polycarp Igathe, UAP Insurance MD James Wambugu, and Britam CEO Benson Wairegi.
Others include Lady Justice Mary Ang’awa, lawyer Pravin Bowry, Tom Gitogo CIC deputy group CEO, billionaire businessman Karim Jamal, Family Bank chairman Wilfred Kiboro, Central Bank of Kenya governor Njuguna Ndung’u, Michael Turner MD of Actis Africa and former taxman Michael Waweru.
Muthaiga has set aside two acres out of its total 81.8 acres of land for development of the hotel.
The proposed high-end hotel will feature a conference centre with two ballrooms, a spa with treatment rooms, a fitness centre, sports courts, an outdoor pool, a business centre, kids and teens club as wells as food and beverage outlets.
The hotel’s development will step-up competition for other five-star hotels in Nairobi including The Tribe, Serena, InterContinental, Hilton and Kempinski.
Muthaiga will join the league of golf clubs that own hotels, including Nyali Golf & Country Club, Leisure Lodge Beach and Golf Resort, and Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club.
The club, which is located next to the lush woodlands of Karura Forest, has an 18-hole championship course and a club house.
Muthaiga Golf Club says the demand for luxury resort accommodation in golf settings is fuelled by the growing number of business travellers working at global firms that have set up their regional hub in Nairobi.
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