Richard Ashby is building Shivo Towers – the island’s first portered luxury apartments with room service from a high-end restaurant, huge communal pool, spa, gym, co-working space and vast manicured tropical gardens overlooking the ocean in Paje.
Ashby says that infrastructure improvements have transformed Zanzibar from a back-packers’ haven into a new luxury destination for well-heeled travellers.
Better roads and services have created an ‘easy paradise’ similar to the high-end Caribbean destinations and that is attracting wealthier property investors.
Ashby, founder and CEO of Shivo Tanzania, said: “Shivo Towers is a new landmark for the whole of Zanzibar – world class penthouse living coming to the island for the first time. This is Manhattan-style luxury in East Africa.
“It has been made possible by the huge structural improvements which have happened on the island in the last five years.
“Everywhere you look it is better – beautiful new tarmacked roads in place of the old potholes and huge investment in basic infrastructure.
“Older people looking for the ‘easy paradise’ they can find in winter sun destinations such as Maldives and the more exclusive parts of the Caribbean can now get the same luxury comfort in Zanzibar.
“If your image of Zanzibar is of a ‘rough-and-ready’ haven for kite surfers and backpackers, think again.
“They are still here enjoying the gorgeous white sands and the tropical paradise but there is a whole new class of traveller who is coming to the island expecting the very best luxury accommodation and Shivo Towers has been built for them.”
Land prices have shot up by 400% in Zanzibar in the past three years as other developers join Ashby in catering for this new class of tourist.
Ashby left London for the Indian Ocean holiday hotspot to escape Covid restrictions five years ago – and this is his second real estate project.
Investors can make a 66% return in the booming winter sun destination which is a third of the price of Dubai or the Caribbean and has been dubbed ‘the new Maldives’.
Shivo Towers has been designed by the renowned Italian architectural firm Much More, based in Dubai, London and Milan and led by director Christian Bonu.
Ashby, who lives on the island, said: “The development embodies Italian contemporary design while taking inspiration from the natural world and the surrounding landscape of Zanzibar.”
The two towers will have four penthouses, each with an asking price of $1.25 million, but there will also be more affordable entry-level studio suites starting at $120,000.
In total there are 162 units in the development and 30 have already sold.
Work started last month and it is expected to take two and a half years, with the first units occupied in the second half of 2027.
No expense has been spared in ensuring that the build is sustainable and uses the world’s top branded materials.
The entire facade is made out of a German glass and high tech composite materials such as Krion for the balcony’s leading edges – to prepare the building for the island’s sun, sand, salt and rain adventures which can take such a toll on poorly prepared buildings.
Ashby said: “I am tired of seeing the same crumbling black fungus effect across the facades of developments around the island, so we are doing everything we can to protect and ensure that it keeps its luxury appearance.”
Shivo Towers will use cutting-edge energy efficiency systems and water conservation solutions, including a sewage treatment plant and desalination for the water supply.
Holiday real estate in Zanzibar is booming and land prices have exploded since foreigners were allowed to register deeds in their own name in 2018.
The Daily Telegraph in London has reported that investors can make a 66% return on holiday property investments.
Ashby, an off plan estate agent dealing in luxury apartments next to the Thames in London, came to the island in 2020 to escape Covid restrictions.
Rather than return to Europe when lockdown ended, he helped to create a private estate of luxury villas in Paje which sold quickly to Western investors and holiday makers who use them for extended breaks and rent them out for high returns the rest of the year.
For this new project, his company, Shivo SMC Private Limited, is the developer, bringing the very finest European design quality to East Africa.
The two 45-metre towers provide soaring 7.5-metre high apartment levels ceilings, giving every owner the feeling of living in their own vast, airy penthouse.
He has worked closely on the project with Tamraheen Rashid, marketing officer for Shivo Tanzania, who was with Ashby supervising the start of the building work last month.
Ashby added: “Shivo Towers stands as a model for progressive development in the region. By blending lessons from the past with innovative solutions for the future, the project is poised to revolutionise the landscape of construction across the island.
“Investors will get vast vaulted open mezzanine floors, creating the luxurious penthouse feel you get in the best penthouses overlooking Central Park in Manhattan but right next to the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.”
The Zanzibar archipelago is a jewel in the Indian Ocean, just 60 miles off Africa’s east coast and part of Tanzania.
It has long been popular with safari-loving Western tourists who stop off for a week in the sun after enjoying the wildlife in the Serengeti or relax after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak. It is also a haven for kite surfers.
It has a warm climate, with average daytime temperatures of 28-degrees, and is a fraction of the cost of other popular winter sun destinations.
* For more details about investing in luxury holiday penthouses and apartments off plan in Zanzibar, check out Richard Ashby’s @Shivo_Tanzania Instagram or his website – Byshivo.com
