Lagos, Afriland Properties partner on historic Falomo Towers

The burgeoning skyline of Ikoyi, Lagos State, is set to accommodate another architectural edifice as the Lagos State Government partners with the private sector to redevelop the demolished Falomo Shopping Complex, Ikoyi.

Now christened Falomo Towers, the multi-storeyed mixed-use structure is a joint venture between Afriland Properties, a member of Heirs Holdings, and Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSDPC).

At the ‘Sod Turning Ceremony’ on Saturday, signalling the beginning of construction work at the site on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, described the event as well as the project as historic and a clear model of what a Public Private Partnership (PPP) should be.

He said: “Falomo has a lot of history behind it; the name, the location, where it sits in Ikoyi has decades of history behind. And so, for us to be bringing back the old glory, the old ambience that we all grew up to know, is very, very phenomenal and it’s history that we should not forget.”

Sanwo-Olu, while commending the Chairman of Afriland Properties, Mr Tony Elumelu, for putting together the financial package for the project, said Lagos State have found in Afriland a right partner, adding that the partnership is a testimony to the fact that when people put their minds together great things can happen.

“Today, we have a project that is bigger and better than what was initially proposed 10 years ago.

“This testifies to the uniqueness of the public and private sectors in ensuring things can be made better when we come together in agreement. A clear example of what the PPP model is out to achieve when partnerships and collaborations are pursued and implemented with seriousness,” the governor, who said he was the managing director of LSDPC when the project was muted 10 years ago, declared.

Afriland chairman, Elumelu, commended Sanwo-Olu and those he termed “political leaders” of Lagos State, for making the Falomo Towers project possible.

Elumelu, who is also the Group Chairman of Heirs Holdings, recalled the initial challenges he and his team encountered when they tried to pull off the project 10 years ago.

“When this journey started, we had the usual disagreement but the governor when he took over said we must make progress and one day, I got a call from another leader, who said we need to bring back this iconic development to Lagos and Nigeria people.

“I want to say that, fortuitously, may be, it was good we had the initial challenges because what we have today and bringing to people of Lagos and Nigeria is a lot better than what we had before,” Elumelu, also chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), said.

He described the Sod Turning Ceremony and eventual take off of the project as “a celebration of dialogue, a sense of reason and humility to focus on what is important”.

The Falomo Towers is being built on about 12,000 square metres of land space with a completion time of 30 months. It will have spaces for shops, offices, entertainment, events and apartments.