Metropolitan Real Estate is set to break ground on a new luxury apartment site near the African Union Headquarters in Sarbet. The 19-storey apartment project is expected to be launched in March with a total investment of one billion Birr.

Dubbed Central Tower Apartments, the new complex will lie on a 1,135Sqm area of land. The apartment will come equipped with a generator, water tank, security system, underground parking, common terrace, fitness centre and clubhouse. The units have already been put up for sale this month.

Three-bedroom and two-bedroom units with sizes ranging from 128Sqm to 144Sqm in size will be available in four years. Prices vary from 50,000 Br to 80,000 Br a square metre depending on the customer's preferred payment scheme and the type of unit bought.

Metropolitan, a United States-based company, has joined the Ethiopian real estate market with its Sarbet Gabriel luxury apartments project inaugurated in 2017. Following Sarbet Gabriel, the real estate company went on to launch three more projects in two years, two of which are labelled luxury apartments.

The land for the apartment was acquired almost three years ago, but the company decided to hold off on construction as land ownership issues were not settled and the area needed to go through development, according to Leul Dereje, marketing & sales director of Metropolitan.

The company also researched what kind of apartments are best suited for the area before deciding to build luxury housing, according to him.

The construction of the apartment building, like all of Metropolitan's projects, is going to be handled by European architects and engineers. The company inaugurated Bole Midtown luxury apartments, its second project, in late October of last year. The apartment was built and delivered in one year and nine months, three months earlier than the promised completion date.

It is also currently constructing its Metropolitan Tower apartments located near Bole Rwanda Embassy and its Westview standard apartment complex located in the Zenebework area. Leul says that 85pc and 25pc of sales on those projects, respectively, have already been completed.