Commercial properties on Broad Street and the Marina as well as those on adjoining streets, such as Breadfruit, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kakawa and Bamgbose in the Lagos Central Business District (LCBD) are enjoying a boom. Such properties are the toast of big time tenants, such as banks and blue chip companies which are returning to the axis following its upgrade by the Lagos State government, reports OKWY IROEGBU.

Seventeen years after some commercial and industrial outfits relocated from the Lagos Central Business District, they are returning to the Marina, Broad Street and adjoining areas, such as Bamgbose, Breadfruit, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kakawa streets.

Their return to the area, which they quit following the relocation of the seat of the Federal Government to Abuja, is a fallout of the upgrade of the district by the Lagos State Government. The relocation triggered a glut in the property market around the axis leading to the take over of the Marina and other streets by street traders and urchins, popularly known as area boys. Motor parts dealers also relocated from the Idumota/Church Street axis to the International Trade Fair complex on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

But the good times are here again for landlords in the business district.Not only are the companies returning, the prices of properties on Victoria Island and Ikoyi, where most of the banks and blue chip companies have their corporate officers, are forcing a return to the district which now has necessary facilities.

An Estate Surveyor and Valuer, Mr. Phillip Ojo, said of the axis before the upgrade, initiated by former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu: "The area was at "its lowest ebb as most companies moved in droves to Victoria Island due to the dearth of infrastructure, hoodlums, congestion and un -checked traffic snarls and filth".

Ojo said the value of properties in the area also nose-dived as a result of the movement of the seat of government to Abuja. According to him, several properties, hitherto occupied by government agencies, were vacated, leading to a glut in the property market. For instance, he said, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which hitherto occupied several floors of some high-rise buildings around Tinubu Square in addition to its buildings, vacated some of them, thus freeing several floors and many other high-rise buildings.
The prices of properties are bouncing back, even beyond the old rates.

For instance, spaces are being offered for between N7,500 and N8,000 per square metre as against N2,500 to N3,500 during the glut. Ojo said the collapse of some banks which had their offices in some of the buildings in the area also affected the value of the properties. He said the higher prices are as a result of better facilities in the district and refurbishment of the properties by their owners.

According to Ojo, Victoria Island became a status symbol, embassies moved en-masse to Eleke Crescent, banks, oil companies moved also but before you know it, because it was not purpose built, many residential homes were converted to offices forcing the property prices to go well beyond the reach of certain businesses.

This upward movement in the prices of properties and given that the upgrade on the Island has been completed, leading to improvement in the business environment and the elimination of most of the factors that had negatively affected business operations jerked up property prices.

Mr. Bode Adediji, Principal Partner of Bode Adediji Partnership, confirmed the sharp increase in the prices of property on the Island due to improvement on the infrastructure. Said Adediji: "It is an established concept worldwide that location appears to be the most significant influence on property values. The other reason why property prices may have appreciated on the Island, especially on the Marina and Broad Street is the improvement on the quality of the property, proximity to certain geographical landmarks, nearness to the port, oceans and seas besides the perception of people vis-à-vis the relative security and safety in the region.

It would not be out of place for businesses to relocate to the Island because the factors which drove them away in the first place have been taken care of by the massive redevelopment of the area by the administration of Governor Ahmed Tinubu".