What was once billed as Nairobi’s answer to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is still yet to get off the ground.
At 300 metres, Pinnacle Tower was set to be Africa’s tallest building. The Tower was a Kes 20 billion mixed-use development by a subsidiary of Hass Petroleum Group and Dubai’s White Lotus Projects.
The building was expected to rise to 70 storeys and would have included a 255-room Hilton Hotel, residential apartments, offices and retail space.
Currently, the site is an unsightly gaping excavation, in sharp contrast to the bright prospect back in May 2017 when President Uhuru Kenyatta laid the foundation stone.
“This future icon will be a proud symbol of collaboration and the peak of architectural achievement in Africa,” said a press release sent on the day of the launch.
It is understood that legal problems are part of the challenges that stalled the massive development. In 2016, owners of a piece of land adjacent to The Pinnacle site had gone to court claiming that The Pinnacle management was trespassing through debris and construction equipment. The case was filed by Ugandan tycoon James Mugoya through his Kingorani Investments and a trust formed by former United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Zayeed Nayan. A court order was issued in January 2017 barring the contractors from using the neighbouring plot.
Other neighbouring property owners were said to be apprehensive about the new structure, fearing it could destabilize their own buildings.
