Westgate Shopping Mall

NB: As I was going through my old posts, I found this one in my drafts, meaning I never published it. I'll just go ahead and post it as I wrote it back in Nov '08, shortly after I got back to Kenya.

Westgate Mall is a trendy new mall in the Westlands area of Nairobi. This mall is the first of its kind in terms of state-of-the art facilities and incorporating different types of retail outlets under the same roof.  The mall is home to a variety of clothing stores, eateries, kid's play area, food court, casino, a book/music store reminiscent of Barnes & Noble layout, movie theater, grill & sushi bar (Onami - love this place!!), coffee shops (Artcaffe & Dormans) and Nakumatt which is a "Wal-Mart-esq" type of store. The first time I visited Westgate, I was thoroughly impressed by interior of the mall and the lighting was excellent (Kenyans you know what I mean!).

This mall is beautiful...from the atrium entrance that features a waterfall to the type of tiles used on the floors and the general airy layout.  Wish I could share some pictures but an askari (security guard) almost throttled me for trying to take a picture during my first visit (the website has some pics though).  An aside: there are lots of places in Nairobi that do not allow photography! When you ask for a reason why you cannot take photos, no one can tell you why!

As you drive up the first thing that catches your eye is the Artcaffe Coffee Shop, which is very spacious and has great patio seating (definite plus for sun worshipers like me!) I've reviewed Artcaffe on this blog before so check it out! On the downside, for a shopaholic like me, the 3-story Westgate mall is fairly small (350,000sq ft). I'm comparing it to the kind of mall I'm used to in Atlanta (Town Center 1,269,000sq ft and Cumberland 1,040,000sq ft) but it feels and looks bigger than it actually is and serves the needs of the people who shop there. If this is the beginning of the ultra modern type of mall in Kenya then I can't wait until the next one!  The parking spaces are on the top deck, basement and across the mall. Unfortunately, there are only 700 spots (according to their website) so there is almost always a long line of cars waiting to find an open spot.  Compare this number to the 5,600 parking spots at the Cumberland Mall in Atlanta! Parking is very scarce in Nairobi and I think this is one challenge that land developers have not tackled.  For a mall this size, there should be more parking spaces. There is unlimited space in the air so I don't see why developers don't think of building storied parking decks.

There was some controversy in '08 surrounding the land that Westgate sits on - evidently, this area is considered a "wetlands" by NEMA (National Environmental Management Authority).  So, NEMA sued the private developer for allegedly interfering with the "natural flow of the river" and additionally that the parking lot was constructed without an "environmental impact assessment license".  There was a lot of talk that the mall would be pulled down but in March '09, the courts ruled that the mall would not be pulled down as "it is not constructed on riparian reserve".  The parking lot has been under scrutiny for removal to restore the river to its "natural course". In Feb 2010, Lands Minister, James Orerigo revoked titles of previously "private" parcels and ordered them to be classified as "public" land - therefore the mall's parking lot will not be demolished.