Casafina Begins Construction of Residential Estate in Maryland, Ojota Plaza

Fadekemi Ajakaiye

A real estate company, Casafina Development Company Ltd., which focuses primarily on residential real estate, has embarked on its first commercial real estate.

Casafina recently launched two projects, a residential facility in Maryland and a Plaza at Ojota both in Lagos.

The CEO of Casafina, Mr. Seyi OlorunFemi said, “What is unique about us is that we provide a flexible payment from short term, medium to long term payment. We’re doing a public presentation of our project that we’re looking at starting in the next few days. The idea behind this public presentation is we want people to know that you can have profitable investments in Lagos, even in the present economy. 

“We’re looking to actually build one of the best residential real estate in the mainland, that’s our target. We know that overall the economy is a bit stressed. But we also know that distress will end as well. Number two, those who understand the value of prime real estate, understand the value we’re bringing to the table. And they will strive to get it and that’s part of what we’re doing. 

“We partner with a mortgage bank. We’re partnering with financial institutions to help people to finance this one and spread the payment. But much more importantly, when things are down, inflation is high, devaluation is affecting every other form of asset. 

“There are three assets that would withstand these two challenges headwinds, that is commodities, equities and real estate. So for the savvy investor, this is time to actually go for Prime properties.

“So this is really the only option if you don’t want to take risks and you want to maintain and preserve the value of your money. We’ve had experiences before that have affected our project. But because we are providing multiple options of financing so if you start wanting to do a one year two year and there’s an issue introducing a mortgage, you introduce the option of financing to you. And then also we’re not selling like all at once. We’re staging it so that it allows us to price if there’s a change in the cost of impute you understand and then allows us to also swap for those who may not be able to continue. 

“And then we have a waiting list that says wait until so that we can actually be able to substitute without affecting the project or effect and those who have started with us. 

“The timeline for this project is 24 months, with 64 buildings. About the other project at Ojota which is the Chemical plaza, the commercial entity we’re experimenting with is about 360 shops. That will be completed in 18 months. We started in April. So what you saw onsite is just like two or three months’ work. We have 18 months but we will most likely finish by 12 months. That’s our target. Looking at the current state of the economy It’s been crazy, particularly the cost of impute. So you will notice that you know what I said that one of the assets that would withstand inflation is real estate. 

So you will notice that property price if you were selling anything under N100 million two years ago, today it’s about N200 million or N250 million, so that value is preserved. So you are pricing the changes, but you also now look at what way can we make it easier. And that’s why we are always very passionate about flexibility. And one of the things we are also very particular about is if you buy from us and you are reselling say in one, or two years, you will be able to do significant return on investment when looking at an upward of 60%, 70%, 80% or 100% return on your investment. “We’ve done it before and our subscriber can attest to that. So those who bought about three years ago at N45 million are selling today at N151 million or N180 million for one of our properties. We want to repeat that here. 

“So it may be tough to acquire because it’s prime, but the reward is more than worth it. ButI honestly think that the federal government’s policies are not bad for the good. So if they could just implement those policies and accelerate the rate of deployment of it. Take for example, one of the things that there has been a bit of effort towards is to increase product production, if we could actually get that to scale that provides a much needed forex. And then some of the, you know, smaller taxes of trying to shop for those things well, because we’re input dependent, so anything that affects dollars significantly changes the equation for us. So I think, you know, if you look beneath the noise and hysteria, we’re generally headed in the right direction, or let me put it this way. Maybe we’re going in the wrong direction at top speed. We are decelerating and trying to stop before we reverse. So sometimes when something if the truck is on a momentum, it takes a while before it starts, but I believe absolutely. In this country. “And I think this is where it’ll be in terms of opportunity. So those policies will take time to take effect. What we’re building is primarily for high networth. The 1% of the 1% and we know, one of the challenges of low cost is the margin is very low, and the purchasing power is also very low. So if you make a mistake, your margin of error is very narrow, you can’t navigate wealth but that will change over time. 

“One of the ways we could change that is to go over the mortgage financing route. That sector is technically still nascent and infantile. So that’s the way to go. Because affordability is not about not being, it is not about the cost of it is about the ability to buy and there are two separate things.” 

Also speaking about the project, Coach Spark Ovadje, the National real estate ambassador and coach, stated, “We’re officially opening and commissioning the chemical plaza here at Ojota, which is going to serve as a business hub or business home for chemical and lubricants.  “This area is actually called the chemical district, but we decided to have a plaza that will serve the purpose and that will have direction and it’s not just a normal plaza, it’s more like a village for chemicals. We’re not also limited to just a chemical but it’s going to be more.  The Company behind this project -Casafina Development- they’ve done so much, they have a successful story behind the scenes and those are the things we’ve confirmed and checked, then we know that we can connect with the brand. 

“I would urge Lagosians and people all over the world to connect by investing, and key into having a slot here because the rental inflow of funds here is so large.” 

The President of United Chemical Dealers Association, Ojota, Chief John Okeowo said, “We have come for the launch of this project, which has a lot to do with us. You can see it is written in chemical Plaza. 

“This should be the largest Plaza around and it’s going to be an enclosed Plaza. Which offers you a good security, offers you understanding with those that do business around here.  It is always very easy for people to obey the law that governs an enclosed place so it is actually going to add value, going to add beauty, is going to add so many fascinating things to Ojota.

“It is affordable because of the rent price within the Ojota community.”