By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Banana Island, the billionaire’s paradise in Lagos, is an enchanting place to be. A community built on ‘sandlogged’ water, it is a residence and workplace to some of the nation’s wealthiest people, including expatriates and celebrities, among others.

Admirers say it is Nigeria’s answer to Paris’ Seventh Arrondissement, San Diego’s La Jolla, New York City’s Tribeca and Tokyo’s Shibuya and Roppongi.

A small, man-made island in the Ikoyi neighbourhood of Lagos, Banana Island is home to the rich, the propertied, and, on the fringe, the homeless and the struggling, who service the upper echelon.

Completed in 2000, its quiet, peaceful atmosphere derived its name from the distinct shape of the island which bears a semblance for the popular sweet item of fruit that monkeys would die for.

Boundaries
Banana Island sits pretty perched on a 1.63-million-square-meters perimeter of the land.

It is a sand-filled island by the Lagos Lagoon, just about five miles east of Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), the commercial heartbeat of Lagos.

Banana Island is linked by a dedicated road which connects it to a network of other roads near Parkview Estate. First Avenue in the north and Second Avenue in the south, later merge around the perimeter.

Living cost
As in the rest of the country, real estate prices on Banana Island are based on the value of the land, which according to Roberta Nouboue, managing director of Madingwa Real Estate, is N400,000 ($1,101 per square metres).

Neubauer said prices for detached houses, which rarely come on the market because there are not many on the island, start at N1 billion ($2.75 million).

The most expensive listing now on the market, N5 billion, is for a six-bedroom detached house on 2,600 square metres of land, she said.

She added that four-bedroom, single-family terrace/townhouses that are on average 400 square metres, and are on 1,000 square metres of land generally range from N350 million to N500 million.

One current listing, she said, is for N750 million.
That is the price for each of the twin townhouses on 600 square metres of land.
The island also had three prominent condo developments: Ocean Parade Towers, Bella Vista Towers and Lakepoint Apartments.

“There are more apartments and terrace houses than detached single-family homes because the land is so scarce and land prices are so high,”. Nouboue said.

“Most of them are owned by individuals and rented out to tenants who pay N25 million to N30 million annually.”

She said it is possible to buy a unit for about N363 million “because the value has dropped significantly in the last three years with the devaluation of the naira. It is illegal to market real estate in anything but naira.”

Of the three condo developments, Ocean Parade is considered the most top-notch, she said, because of its many amenities, such as tennis courts, an Olympic-size pool, two gyms, and children’s areas.

By original planning, Banana Island was to be an uber-exclusive enclave of single-family detached estates divided into 535 property plots ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 square metres. House heights were to be capped at three stories.

The beginning
Property watchers say the first homes were built on the south side of the island, but as land prices skyrocketed through the years, high-rise condo developments were built on the north side, which also houses the area’s commercial corridor.

‘’There are three mixed-use high-rises—the Adunola, the oldest, and Lakepoint Towers and Desiderata, which were built over two years.
“The first houses that were built are in British and Dubai traditional styles,” Nouboue said, adding, “They are very ostentatious and have nice gardens.’’
The newer buildings, they say, are more modern, with straight angles, and less elongated because they are on less land.”

According to Charles Onyenze, an associate at Knight Frank Property, prospectors have a choice of two to four bedroom en-suite flats, maisonettes and terrace houses.

He added “Typically, a very large percentage of homes are customised, while a few are large estates accommodating a number of prototype houses.”

Apartment buildings, Onyenze stressed, come fully stocked with amenities that include fitted kitchens, walk-in-wardrobes, intercom systems, security surveillance systems and standby generators.

Swimming pools, Nouboue said, are quite popular. “And nearly every house has a gym”.

The unique
Beauty and seclusion, it is said, set Banana Island apart from other general property in Lagos.

“Banana Island is a piece of heaven in the middle of noisy Lagos,” a buff said, adding that the island has parks. “It offers security, tranquillity and privacy. To get to the island, you have to pass through a security gate. It is by invitation only.”

This, the respondent said, is because there is not much car traffic. “You can jog in peace.”

Onyenze said the island’s security network, good roads, 24/7 street lighting, and proximity to the waters of the Lagos Lagoon, make it special.

It also offers status. “Having a presence in Banana Island is an indication of your societal class,” he said.

Luxury amenities
Although Banana Island’s main street offers little more than a café, a barbershop and a large supermarket, chic shopping areas and restaurants on Victoria Island are only a 12-minute car ride away.

Outings
Favourite restaurants include NOK, by Alara, which serves new African cuisine; Z Kitchen, offering succulent steaks; and R.S.V.P, which specialises in international dishes.

“R.S.V.P. is a great place to go on Friday nights,” Nouboue said. “It is elegant, and they invite the biggest DJs in the world. They serve cocktails, and there is a pool.”

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Education
There are numerous opportunities. Banana Island School enrols boys and girls aged one to five. Alongside Olive Dale Preparatory School, a nursery-through-primary school, they were the only ones on the island, complemented by several top-notch schools in Ikoyi.

These include Lagos Preparatory and Secondary School, a co-ed day school for students 18 months old to over 16 years; British International School, a British curriculum secondary school for students seven through 13 years old, offering boarding option; and St. Saviours, a British curriculum school for children up to six years of age.

“Most of the schools stop at the primary level because people tend to send their children to boarding schools in the U.K. and the U.S.,’’ a parent said.

Attractions
Residents are attracted to Banana Island by high-tech infrastructure such as underground electrical and water systems.

There’s also a central sewage system and treatment plant, as well as street lighting and satellite telecommunications networks.

Who lives there?
In addition to Nigeria’s wealthiest, Banana Island draws a variety of expatriates from the countries like the United States, Britain and Lebanon, India and France, especially those who work for multinationals.

Others live and work for mega mobile-network operators like Etisalat and Airtel Nigeria, providers of prepaid, post-paid and 4G mobile services; Ford Foundation Nigeria (a non-profit mission to advance human welfare) and important law firms like that of Olaniwun Ajayi & Co, which all have headquarters there.

A property consultant said, “Super-rich people are tenants in the high-rises. Most of the owners of single-family homes live here full time, but they also have houses in the UK or US”.

He added that the estate conceived about 45 years is ideal for families.

Notable residents
Mike Adenuga, the billionaire owner of Globacom, the country’s second-largest telecom operator lives on the island.

So does Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Sayyu Dantata, son of Alhassan Dantata, who, when he died in 1955 was one of the wealthiest men in West Africa as well as Kola Abiola, the son of the late businessman/politician, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

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Outlook
Legends have it that, when Banana Island was built nearly two decades ago, “there was no other luxury spot like it in Nigeria’’. But it has now been forced into competition.

Nouboue said that Eko Atlantic City, a ten-district, 10-square-kilometre luxury high-rise community being constructed on Victoria Island on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean, has created a sea change in the Banana Island market even though only the first buildings had been completed.

“It looks more like Miami, and expatriates are starting to like it more,” she said, adding that the project is due to be completed in about 15 years.

“As Banana Island did in the beginning, it restricts the types of homes that can be built. Built on a beach, it has water views and roads like those in the US.

“It has not impacted the prices in Banana Island significantly, though the fact that there are more options in the luxury market has definitely reduced the high and fast increase of prices that we could have noticed a decade ago.”

 

Prices
Industry watchers say it is not unusual for a flat to be listed for N1billion.

“Banana Island is all about location,” Nouboue said. “It offers easier access to the mainland, and it is closer to the airport. But the habits of people change.

“Everyone wants smaller homes because their kids leave and more people are selling their mansions to live in three-bedroom flats, where they don’t have to worry about maintenance and using a generator for electricity.”

Onyenze agreed, saying he remained convinced that “the real estate market looks promising in the future, as there are visible signs of massive development in progress.”

He, however, conceded that prices had dropped by about 30 per cent, even though “the economy will improve. It will not be slowed down in perpetuity.”

Onyenze stressed that Banana Island’s exclusivity always would remain attractive “to the highest echelon of the society”.

He attributed the drop in prices by about 30 percent in the last three-and-a-half years to a combination of factors, including the devaluation of the naira, decreased crude oil prices, inflation, high-interest rates, job cuts, and divestment by multinational firms from the Nigerian economy.

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The celebrities
Banana Island is described as ‘’a pearl in the crown of Nigerian fashion and celebrity world’. It is the place where all the most expensive houses are situated.’’

Facilities
Banana Island boasts a Central Sewage system of plants, tight security, expensive road layout, fairly constant power supply, good water supply network, and underground electrical supply systems.

This neighbourhood is the most expensive place for all Africans to buy a house. Residents say before you can have the slightest chance to buy a house here, you must be ‘extremely rich.

The average house in the neighbourhood, as spelt here, will cost you around $2 million. But if you are a short-timer, you have the option of renting a house.