•The Story Of The 22-Storey Edifice
Last week, City People drove around Alfred Rewane Road in Ikoyi, Lagos, to confirm the completion of Folorunsho Alakija’s FAMFA Tower. Not only can we confirm to you that the project is 100 per cent completed, but we can also tell you that it has changed the face of that axis totally. Its aesthetic appeal is breathtaking. Seeing the tower stand tall in all its glory with the magnificent lighting shining through in the evening, just tell you it’s a place where the rich will desire to live. Already, the presence of the Alakija tower has boosted economic activities in that axis with many corporate institutions already making plans to be part of the evolution. The tower is now ready for habitation. We can confirm to you that the whole 22 floors is lit up, while the main floors have been fully completed. The offices are smartly designed to match the big corporate expectations.
This edifice is one of the tallest buildings on this road. It’s a 22- storey building which has been under construction for many years.
For those who might be struggling with the location of the project; it’s opposite the new Dangote office which is under construction beside Ikoyi Registry. This road used to be known as Kingsway before it was renamed after Alfred Rewane.
Apart from wealthy Nigerians who now build offices there, the popular street has also become attractive to a great number of well-off customers from all over the world, particularly software, social media and Information Communications Technology (ICT) companies like Google, Microsoft and Facebook who are the current leaders of the global inflow.
The rush for presence on the highbrow street, we gather, is also being fuelled by the unrest in the Niger Delta, with several oil companies moving their offices and expatriate staff to Ikoyi.
Let’s also tell you that, that’s where the new Dangote head office will be. Presently, it’s under construction and work has reached a peak stage on the project.
Some of the iconic properties now lining the street include King’s Tower (built on the site of former Kingsway Towers), BAT Rising Sun, Heritage Place, Alliance Place, Temple Tower, Dangote Towers, Lake Point Towers, Milliner Tower, BUA Towers, Southern Sun, Chelsea Group Hotel and Tarino Tower, amongst many others.
The new addition to these is FAMFA Tower, which a lot of people have been talking about its solid structure, architectural design, and how it will change the skyline of Alfred Rewane road. Ikoyi, Lagos.
Folorunso Alakija is unarguably one of the female entrepreneurs in the world, taking charge of their financial futures and changing the rules of the game. Although their net worth has been affected by recent economic tension, most of them have been growing their wealth through responsible and sustainable investing. And Alakija is a great example.
As she creams off more wealth from the volatile oil and gas sector, the Ikorodu, Lagos-born billionaire has been growing her investment in the high-yielding luxury property business too. Her real estate firm, Dayspring Property Development Company, has a rich portfolio including the Rose of Sharon Tower in Victoria Island and Project Delta in Ikoyi. But her latest and completed project is the FAMFA Tower which is the flagship.
The one-of-a-kind curvaceous skyscraper has changed the skyline of the highbrow Alfred Rewane Road in Ikoyi that hosted several iconic high-rise buildings with its significant presence. The 22-floor edifice —said to cost over N60 billion— is reportedly self-financed by the oil tycoon with no loans from any bank. The edifice will be used for commercial purposes with the last five floors strictly for Alakija’s personal and corporate use, and the rest rented out to interested tenants.
Built by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, amenities and features provided in the tower designed to make it as structurally efficient as possible include: a gymnasium, helipad (with a dedicated waiting lounge), 266 car park spaces, raised access floors, and select granite finishes. The building’s façade comprises extensive high-performance unitized curtain walling with integrated façade lighting, ballistic performance considerations in select areas, and aluminium cladding.
Alakija’s first venture was a fashion label —Supreme Stitches— whose customers included notable power brokers and their spouses. In 1993, the 71-year old woman’s fortune changed when she got an oil prospecting licence which was later converted to an oil mining lease leading to the birth of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil exploration company with a stake in Agbami Oilfield, a prolific offshore asset.
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