When complete the four billion shilling English point marina will be unrivalled all along the eastern seaboard of Africa from cape to Cairo and indeed the only one of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. Targeted at the trend setting, high flying jet setter of the global jet set, the crème de la crème of global society, the English point marina will be a premium and high end destination for the yachting world.
I got to see it first hand and needless to say, I was toootally blown away. Right now though it is little more than graders and earth movers sitting on brown earth by the beach in Nyali staring at a glorious view of the old town of Mombasa. The whole project oozes potential.
And indeed here, there is tremendous potential; just 30 days ago, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was in Mombasa in his 416 foot or 127 meter yacht ‘the Octopus’ complete with a helicopter, mini submarine and two hummer SUVs’. But lacking a marina, the boat was forced to park right in the middle of the bay, dropping anchor in the creek just beyond fort Jesus. Its owner used a smaller boat to get into the town of Mombasa.
‘This just goes to show the enormous potential there is for this sort of thing,’ says Al Noor Kanji, the director of the project to sum up that situation for me. ‘We aim to provide a destination for this kind of global traveler.’
Were Allen to make the same trip two years down the road, he will definitely arrive to a very different destination.
The selling point of the project for which construction is already underway, is its breath taking view of the Mombasa skyline by night. A total of 96 apartments and two penthouses form the core of the project, with all of them facing towards fort jesus.
Salma Hussein sales manager for the project say there is now way of placing dollar value on the view, especially bearing in mind that the project is expected to cost about 4 billion Kenya shillings or about 50 million dollars
An apartment within the exclusive development is expected to cost the buyer about 40 million Kenya shillings, give or take some change, with two pent houses atop the development going for anything up to 150 million shillings….
So just what is special about the English point marina?
‘The skyline at night’, is the ready answer given by Al Noor, ‘ I own a beach property in the south coast, the pine wood beach, one of the finest in the world, award winning even, but at night , you go to the beach look out to sea and the ambience is zero.’
‘what is special about English point is the sight of the lights of the Mombasa old town at night, and fort Jesus and the developments of the new town rising behind it…’
English point has fascinated Al Noor for the last three years. Raised in Mombasa and going into the family business of hardware after studying in the United Kingdom, the middle aged self declared entrepreneur ventured into hospitality through his first property the Pine Wood Beach Resort in the south coast. He has owned English point for the last three years.
When complete the project is expected to house, a boutique hotel besides shops, the apartments, complete with under ground end to end parking, a board walk with a food court and bars, fountains, a pool and Jacuzzi, not to mention the international spa and gym.
The 88 berths for the yachts which give the marina its name is definitely the centre piece around which all else revolves. Marinas are just docks for boats to park next to, enabling them cut their engines and hookup to mains power to run their electrical equipment.
At English point the marina will afford a lifestyle which according to the owners can only be found in Dubai. The Marina is a lifestyle that has evolved around boats which enables the rich and famous to travel on their vessels to different parts of the world and live in comfort while accessing hospitality amenities like restaurants and bars, nearby.
According to Al Noor, when complete the project is expected to employ several thousand locals in many different job sets beside the knock on effect on the local economy for providing a much needed fusion of tourist currency at the high end of the market.
‘This is a lifestyle we are giving them…’ is the parting shop the developer leaves us with, with the promise of delivery of the conceptualized development with the given two year timeline..
