Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 Commercial Real Estate in Downtown Jos, Nigeria: An Analysis of Emergent Investment Opportunities 1Maren Mallo DANIEL, 2Uyi EZEANAH & 1Peace Swatcham MORDECAI 1Department of Estate Management, University of Jos, Nigeria of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Jos, Nigeria 1 Author correspondence email: mallo@unijos.edu.ng Page | 41 2Department Abstract Research from developed countries have quite demonstrated the real estate investment potentials of downtowns, the driving factors, and the impact of such investment on the downtown area. Similar evidence from Nigerian cities is currently lacking in literature, and it is this gap that motivated the research. The inquiry was based on secondary source information which was combined with data obtained from surveys and interviews. In pursuance of research objective one which examined the nature of commercial real investment in the downtown of Jos, the analysis reveals that investors were exploring opportunities in adaptive reuse of buildings to economically viable options and redeveloping obsolete and unattractive buildings into new ones. The second objective scrutinises the drivers of commercial real estate investment. The drivers identified include land recycling and permissive local development control regulations. Coupled with these are the demand for residential, retail spaces, warehouses and offices, which were found to be high and with attractive rents. The last objective investigates the impact of commercial real estate investment on the downtown area, and the results suggest that the practice of mix-use development was a source of transformation. And, a further analysis reveals a gradual shift from the single storey buildings which once permeated the landscape of downtown Jos to multi-storey buildings. Though the heights of buildings, by international standards, do not qualify for tall buildings, they produce a new skyline in the downtown area. Keywords: Commercial property, real estate, transformation, downtown 1. Introduction Real estate, sometimes referred to as ‘’real property,’’ is one of the oldest and most popular asset classes (Kennon, 2020). In technical sense, real estate is land plus any other tangible improvement that is installed on it, for use as residential, industrial or commercial property (Amadeo, 2021) or other purposes than these. Commercial real estate, which is the focus of this study may consist of a building, structures and improvements located on a parcel that is intended to generate a profit (Certified Commercial Property Inspectors Association [CCPIA], 2021). Real estate thrives in downtown locations, which are also referred to as ‘’central business districts (CBD)’’ of cities. As a matter of fact, downtown is the most attractive location for real estate investment (Geltner, Miller, Clayton, & Eichholtz, 2010) and several literatures (see Sohmer & Lang, 2001, Birch, 2005 and Strom, 2008 for example) have established that huge investment in commercial properties oftentimes occurs within the downtown areas of cities across the world. Though a standard definition of a downtown is lacking in literature but the term is described as the main business district or central part of the city, often the oldest and most established, and the place where maximum rents for commercial properties are derived (Sohmer & Lang, 2001). The aspiration for maximum rent is a key attraction of commercial real estate investment in downtown. As commercial real market flourishes it becomes a potential trigger for the transformation of the downtown location. Studies conducted in developed cities (Birch, 2005; Robertson, 2008; Montgomery, 2008 and Kuyucu & Ünsal, 2010) have severally established a nexus between commercial real estate investment and market on one hand, and the transformative effect of such investment and market in the location. While such association is evident elsewhere, corroborating evidence from Nigerian cities is currently lacking in academic literature, and this is a motivation for the study. This research is purely exploratory and the aspiration is to bridge the knowledge gap on the connection between commercial real estate investment in downtown area and its transformative effect using Jos as an example. As the focus of empirical study, Jos is the commercial nerve and administration Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 headquarters of Plateau State in central Nigeria. It is a city that gained its prominence from tin mining activities that began at the inception of the 20th century. By 1956, human population in Jos was estimated at 18,000 (Plotnicov, 1967 p.53), and over time, Jos has metamorphosed into a medium size city with an estimated population of 915,000 inhabitants in 2021 (Macrotrends, 2022). The current master plan of the Greater Jos Metropolis classifies the downtown location as the central area or Jos township and the extant development control standards allows building development to cover 60 percent of plot and building height of 1 – 5 storey is allowed. Building conversion in downtown is Page | 42 allowed only when it is compatible with the uses in the location (Plateau State Government, 2007). A preliminary study of this location suggests some level of transformation within the downtown as a consequence of private investment in commercial properties. However, this development appears to be overlooked in academic research. This research is therefore conceived to fill the literature gap. To achieve this, the following broad objectives were pursued. The first will explore the nature of commercial real estate development that is occurring within the downtown of Jos. Next, the contextual factors driving real estate development will be analysed. Last, attention will turn to explicates the transformative effect of commercial real estate investment on the landscape of the downtown of Jos. Prior to scrutinising these objectives, a brief review of relevant literature will be conducted after which some methodological considerations for the research will be outlined. 2. Commercial Real Estate Investment and Downtown Development: A Review of Literature 2.1 Commercial Real Estate Commercial real estates are in varieties, they include industrial properties, offices, retail, multidwelling units, luxury homes, hotels and lodgings, restaurants (Ibanez & Pennington-Cross, 2013), golf courses, parks and recreational buildings (Florance, Miller, Peng & Spivey 2010). Some of these real estates also have their sub-categories. Within the industrial category for example, there are manufacturing facilities, warehouses and flex. In the retail category, the sub-types include shops, malls and pad site, and for offices, they come in the form of office buildings, condominiums, and medical or dental office suites (CCPI, 2021). Commercial real estate is an attractive kind of investment that offers higher returns when compared with other forms of real estate. Yardney (2021) provides a dossier of the benefits of investing in commercial real estate to include strong returns, stability of income, low risk, exposure to different sectors of the economy, tax benefits, hedging against inflation, investment control, ability to add value, and leverage. While commercial real estate is attractive, its market also has its challenges which occassionally undermines the benefits. Adair, Berry, McGreal, Hutchison, Watkins & Gibb (2003) reported the lack of transparency, insufficiency of information on returns and risks, inaccessibility to finance and uncertainties of liquidity of assets as some of the challenges affecting the market. Yardney (2021) supports this position and further elaborated that the challenges manifest through liquidity issues, lack of price information, scarcity of other information, high cost, and the concern of ongoing management of the investment. Regarding the factors that influence commercial real estate investment, literature (Lieser & Groh, 2011; Sen, 2016 and Yardney, 2021) suggest that they are multiple in nature and equally broadly divided into macro and micro factors. And, irrespective of the geographical context that an investor chooses to invest, both macro and micro factors have their influences (Wemyss, 2015). In Wemyss’ view, the macro factors are those national, regional and sub-regional socio-economic indicators that investors ought to consider in making investment decisions. And the key variables at the macro level include net population (including migration), government policy, land supply, investment in infrastructure, dwelling construction, employment, wage growth, and access to finance. The micro factors are those indices that have immediate influence on sales or rents of commercial real estate, and top on the list is the location of properties to amenities. Other considerations include local planning regulations, streetscapes, block orientation and view, architectural style and floor plan (Wemyss, 2015). Sen (2016) concurs with Wemyss and advises investors to be mindful of the Return on Investment (RoI), cash flow from rentals, security of investment, leverage, loan pay down, customised occupancy, price appreciation, extra management time, when deciding to invest in commercial real estate. Yardney (2021) substantiates Sen’s position and offered five important drivers for investment in DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 commercial real estate to include interest rates and their fluctuating nature, level of infrastructure development, demographics, population growth rate, and retail spending (Yardney, 2021). An earlier study by Lieser and Groh (2011) had outlined the factors that influence location’s attraction for real estate investment. These include economic growth, rapid urbanisation and compelling demographics. Lieser and Groh equally noted that lack of transparency, administrative burden of doing real estate business, socio-cultural challenges and political instabilities discourage real estate investment in certain Page | 43 locations (Lieser and Groh, 2011). 2.2 Downtown Development and Real Estate Literature (Geltner, Miller, Clayton, & Eichholtz, 2010) supports the fact the downtown (or central business district—CBD) of any city is the most attractive location for commercial real estate investment. Geltner, Miller, Clayton, & Eichholtz elucidated this by explaining that the downtown or CBD usually encompasses the central city and its surrounding suburbs, and often tends to be relatively integrated economically, culturally, and socially. In this sense, most locations within a city’s metropolitan area are more or less within a walk distance or within automobile commuting distance than other areas (Geltner, Miller, Clayton, & Eichholtz, 2010). It is this advantage that attracts commercial real estate to downtown or CBD. And the more the investment in commercial real estate in downtown, the more the transformation of the location. It could also be the other way round whereby a transformation through infrastructure provision of some sort of regeneration programme within the downtown will catalyst commercial real estate investment (Strom, 2008 and Birch, 2005). Literature scrutiny confirms that commercial real estate investment in downtown is shaped by variety of urban policy measures. In Johannesburg city of South Africa, Bremer (2000) reported how the urban authorities employed regeneration programme to reinvent a city where all citizens could feel part of. This policy measure was found to promote inclusion while also catalysing real estate investment. Still in South Africa, Winkler (2003) found that commercial real estate market in downtown Hillbrow was shaped by situated history, politics and economics alongside conventional regeneration strategies that were based on liberal market rationalities employed. Indeed, neoliberalism has become a catalyst for redevelopment of downtown. Newman & Ashton (2004) and Gregory(2008) concurred with each in advancing this position. With reference to Istanbul, Kuyucu & Ünsal (2010) observes that a radical shift in governance of urban land from populist to neoliberal mode was seen to bring about large transformation projects which in turn, stimulated commercial real state investment. In another study, Strom (2008) argues that downtown redevelopment is no longer considered a project of a region’s economic elites. Rather, changing downtown land uses have attracted nonprofit sectors and real estate industry leaders who now, have dominated downtown business organisations across cities of the world. In North America and European cities, several flagship projects have emerged in a property-led approach to the regeneration strategies adopted by local authorities (Temelová, 2007). All these have established the nexus between downtown development and real estate investment. In closing, it is worthy of note that there are varieties of avenues for investing in commercial real estate within the downtown. Where vacant land exists, an investor may decide to acquire such for a new construction, and this option has the advantage of building-to-suit, in which a building is designed and tailored for specific types of tenants (Sicola, 2017). But this is not always feasible as vacant lands within the downtown are often hard to come by (Sohmer, 2001). To obviate this challenge, Sicola (2017) documents that investors can explore the option of adaptive reuse, which involves the conversion of building from one use to another in order to meet prevailing demand. Other options are infilling (developing a building on an underutilised land especially where land is scarce), redevelopment (tearing down a building and rebuilding most of it or all of it, into a new structure), renovation (upgrading and modernising a building) and retrofitting (modernising of building systems such as the heating, ventilation and air condition, security, firearms and energy management etc) (Sicola, 2017). 3. Data and Methods In this research multi-method research design was employed for the inquiry. This was chosen in view of the need to collect multiple data sets that could enrich the study (Hunter & Brewer, 2015; DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 Zahle, 2019), and make it possible to triangulate data thereby enhancing validity (Salkind, 2010; Creswell & Creswell, 2017). In line with the research design, a survey was conducted to evaluate commercial properties within the downtown of Jos. Using purposive sampling, a survey was conducted and lasted for four months (from July to October, 2021), which covered 24 streets and 169 buildings were observed. A data collection sheet was designed and used in the collection of information on buildings’ prior and current development, state of completion construction of building, and prior and present use of building. These data provided insights on the nature of commercial real estate Page | 44 development (and achieved objective one) and its transformative effect on the landscape of the downtown (achieving objective three). Descriptive statistical tools were employed for analysis of the data. In addition, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted with two (1) real estate practitioners within Jos, two (2) business operators within the downtown and an officer (2) from the Jos Metropolitan Development Board. Some of the participants were recruited on purpose because they were information-rich and relevant to the topic (Patton, 2002) and others were selected by snowballing, in which selected participants were asked to recommend other suitable individuals from their network that could be interviewed (Montello, & Sutton, 2012). The participants were chosen based on their engagement or experience in commercial property investment and downtown transformation. The interview data which was subjected to content analysis, contributed to understanding the contextual factors driving real estate development (achieving objective two) in downtown Jos. The above data sets were supplemented with documents. Documentary analysis was employed in view of its relevance. One, documents provided historical facts that survey and interviews could not fetch; and two, the documents were used in corroborating the evidence obtained from survey and interviews. All these advantages are supported by Bowen (2009) who is a leading advocate for documentary analysis. For this research, the documents analysed were comprised of commentaries in Dailies, development control standards and textbooks. These were obtained from government offices, libraries and websites, and subjected to content analysis as prescribed by Bowen (2009). 4 4.1 Data Analysis and Discussions Commercial Real Estate Development in Jos The first objective of the study was to explore the nature of commercial real estate development that is occurring within the downtown of Jos. This objective was addressed with the data collected from a survey. The result presented in Table 1 shows the status of development in commercial properties as observed during the survey. A total of 169 buildings were observed and 18.9 percent (32) were under construction at the time of the survey while 81.1 percent (137) were found to have undergone some sort of development in the last 20 years as would be evident in Table 2. Status Under construction Completed Total Table 1 Status of Development in Commercial Properties Buildings Observed 32 137 169 Source: Field Survey, Sept – Nov, 2021 Per cent 18.9 81.1 100.00 The result presented on Table 2 provides further understanding in the nature of developments that have occurred or are occurring on commercial properties in downtown Jos. Of the 169 buildings that were observed, 14.2 percent were found to have undergone or were undergoing some kind of transformations in form of adaptive reuse or conversion. In some buildings, the alterations observed were minor changes while in others, the alternations were complete conversion from initial uses to new forms of uses. All these were done for the purpose of meeting prevailing demand of the market. Adaptive reuse or conversions have proved to be a successful real estate strategy that helps investors to maximise returns on investment (Remøy & Vander Voordt, 2014). Accordingly, the real estate investors in downtown Jos are exploring this option to maximise returns on investment. The data confirms that small proportion of the buildings observed which represents 1.2 percent were infills. And the infills were either newly constructed buildings or buildings under construction on lands that were DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 previously underutilised and situated between existing buildings. Infill development in downtown Jos suggests that land has become scarce in the environment and that some kind of land recycling was evident (Sicola, 2017). Elsewhere, city planners have undertaken infill to counteract the disadvantages of sprawling within cities while also improving the delivery of services such as public transport (Arvola & Pennanen, 2014). This is an untapped potential that city planners in Jos need to explore to curtail the challenge of urban sprawl that is currently being witnessed in the city. Table 2 Developments Observed in Buildings Development Type Buildings Observed Adaptive Reuse or Conversion 24 Infill 02 Redevelopment 94 Renovation 11 Mixed-use development 38 Total 169 Source: Field Survey, Sept – Nov, 2021 Per cent 14.2 1.2 55.6 6.5 22.5 100.00 We examined the commercial real estate market in terms of redevelopment and the analysis confirms that a large proportion, representing 55.6 percent, were recently redeveloped or undergoing redevelopment at the time of the field survey. Notably, the redevelopment was a complete tearing down and rebuilding of residential and retail buildings that had become obsolete, unattractive, and no longer commanding value to the owners. This change would typically occur in sought-after locations (Sicola, 2017) and it does confirm that the downtown Jos is sought-after area to commercial property investors. Elsewhere, redevelopment was found to promote greater performance and sustainability in buildings (Wang et al, 2018) and this could be a latent benefit in the redevelopment of commercial properties that is currently untapped by real estate investors in downtown Jos. From our survey, we found that some buildings had undergone renovation while others were being renovated at the time of the study. The renovation which represented 6.5 percent of development observed, was more or less an upgrading and modernization of buildings. The survey confirms that mixed use development was seen to be an important development in the real estate market. The proportion of buildings that were transformed into mixed use was 22.5 percent. The principle of mixed use development is to introduce variety and vitality into the urban fabric (Hoppenbrouwer & Louw, 2005). Observed uses in commercial properties Event Centre 1.45 School 2.18 Refill Station + Retail + Office 2.18 Retail + Warehouse + Office 17.51 Office + Warehouse 9.48 Office + Residential 1.45 Retail + Residential 32.11 Retail + Office 13.13 Retail + Office + Residential 20.43 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Percentage Fig. 1. Percentage Distribution of Observed Uses in Commercial Property in Downtown Jos DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI 35 Page | 45 Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 In downtown Jos, variety and vitality have arisen from mixed use development as illustrated in Fig. 1 where investors are seen to maximise returns through the combination of use. From our observation of the 137 buildings that were in use at that time of the field survey, 20.43 percent combined retail, offices and residential; 13.13 percent were a combination of retail with offices and a greater proportion, representing 32.11 percent combined retail with residential. Still, buildings that combined offices plus residential represent 1.45 percent; those with offices and warehouses represent 9.45 percent; and retail, warehouse and offices amounted to 17.51 percent. Further, we observed a combination of Page | 46 refill stations with retail and offices but this was in small proportion of 2.18 percent. Within the downtown, there were buildings being used as schools representing 2.18 percent and events centres representing 1.45 percent. 4.2 Factors Driving Real Estate Development in Downtown Jos The objective two of this paper was to scrutinise the contextual factors driving real estate development. The data collected from KII was combined with documents to address the objective. The analysis reveals seven contextual drivers for commercial real estate investment in downtown Jos. As seen in Fig 2, attractive rents, capital appreciation, high demand, modernisation, planning and development regulations, increase in human population and land recycling were found to be the contextual drivers influencing commercial real estate investment in downtown Jos. Attractive rents Capital appreciation Land recycling Increae in human population Drivers of Commercial Real Estate investment Planning & development regulations High Demand modernisation Fig. 2. Drivers of Commercial Real Estate Investment in Downtown Jos Though not arranged in any particular order, the drivers presented in Fig 2 were prominent in the interviews conducted while some were documented in literature written about Jos. From the interviews, respondents confirm that rents, especially for retail spaces, were attractive and are a major driver for commercial real estate investment. This is consistent with literature (Sen, 2016) and specifically on the fact that cash flow from rents guarantees return on investment (RoI). The investors in Jos recognise this, and with reference to Rwang Pam Street in the downtown area, an interviewee who was a business owner (B1) reported that: “a shop measuring 2m x 4m. … goes for N500,000/annum.” Referring to a redevelopment that is ongoing at the Ahmadu Bello way in downtown Jos, another interviewee and a business owner (B2) said: ‘’the shops under construction are already being advertised. …on the ground floor, a shop is renting for N700,000/annum.” DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 All these give investors the assurances of cash flow and RoI. A real estate consultant (RC) that was interviewed confirms this position and equally stated that retail spaces of larger sizes (sizes not established) on the Ahmadu Bello way were renting between N1.6 million per annum to N2.2 million per annum. Furthermore, the demand for commercial properties in downtown Jos is on the rise, and so is the demand for redevelopment sites. These are seen to work hand-in-hand. The interviewees (B1, B2 & R) were in agreement on the influence of the rising demand for commercial real estate investment in Page | 47 Jos. Documents provided a background on the reason for the rising demand for commercial real estate. For instance, Sadiq (2013) reported the absence of the Jos ultra modern main market, which was burnt down in 2002, as the push factor for alternative retail outlets. When the market was in existence, it was accommodating at least 3500 traders on 2000 lockup shops, and it had several warehouses and car parks (Hope, 2018). These were all lost and as a consequence, demand is created on which private investors are cashing on. Coupled with this is rising population (Macrotrends, 2022) that has occurred over the last two decades or thereabout. Generally, increasing population create demand including the demand for real estate (Wemyss, 2015). Another important factor that drives real estate investment is land supply either as vacant land or a recycled land (Sicola, 2017). In downtown Jos, land cycling is evident as interviews confirmed that people were willing to sell buildings that are obsolete and unattractive to investors, so long as the prices are good. Referring to Rwang Pam Street, a respondent (B1) said: “…some houses are dilapidated beyond maintenance. …the owners are selling them out. A house on a plot of 450 meter square costs N12 million on this street.” Similarly, respondent B2 confirms a transaction of N250 million for an old building that was sold for redevelopment on Ahmadu Bello. This was corroborated by respondent (RC) who said: “…we tried to acquire a place for our client, …a property that was not in use for a very long time. …the client was willing to offer 250m to 300m but the owner was unwilling to sell. And the purpose of buying was to demolish and put up something more befitting.” All these confirm the critical role of land supply through the recycling loop, as a driving force for commercial real estate investment. Besides land supply, capital appreciation is an important driver for real estate investment (Sen, 2016). Investors are quite abrased with this as seen in the response of respondent RC: “…an investor, you will want to invest in a location that property can easily go for rent. … it is the return on investment, either short or long term that matters. In the short term, a worthwhile rent will be the goal. …the long term consideration is capital appreciation, and any time you choose to sell, there will be willing buyers, and you will recoup the investment.” Other factors include the quest for modernisation, favourable planning and development control regulations, which allows for conversion of use as confirmed by interviewee (P) and corroborated by the development controls standards and regulations for the downtown Jos (Plateau State Government, 2007). 4.3 The Impact of Commercial Real Estate Development on the Downtown Area In this sub-section, the impact of commercial real estate development on the downtown area is examined. The analysis is based on the data collected from survey. In previous discussions (see Table 3), it was established that the development of commercial properties is bringing about changes in the landscape of the downtown Jos. It was specifically observed that redevelopment predominates the developments that are occurring at the location. Next to this was mixed-use development which was seen to be closely followed by adaptive reuse/conversion of buildings for the purpose of meeting new demands within the downtown area. All these forms of developments have their potential transformative effect on the downtown of Jos. DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 To further shed light on the transformative role of real estate development in the downtown, we analysed data to illustrate a gradual shift from the single storey buildings which once permeated the landscape of downtown Jos to multi-storey buildings. Of the 167 buildings that were studied (see Table 3), it was observed that two storey buildings were dominant, representing 51.5 percent. This was closely followed by three storey buildings with a proportion of 37.3 percent. Buildings of four and five storey heights represented 4.1 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. By the height criteria for measuring and defining tall buildings (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat [CTBUH], (2022), majority of Page | 48 the commercial buildings observed do not qualify to be called tall buildings. However, if the height of the buildings observed is considered relative to the context, it will mean that real estate development has produced a transformation with the skyline of two to three storey buildings in downtown Jos. This is a considerable shift from a skyline of one storey buildings that once dominated the downtown area. Storey-height One Two Three Four Five and above Total Source: Field Survey, 2021 Table 3 Shift from Single Storey to Multi Storey Buildings Observed 11 87 63 07 01 169 Per cent 6.5 51.5 37.3 4.1 0.6 100.00 A shift from one storey building to multi storey buildings as it is evident in downtown Jos offers benefits. The buildings provide more interior space than a typical single storey building on a given plot of land, it economises land for construction of buildings and mitigates the cost of land and preserves land for future development. Other benefits include agglomeration, effective management of rising population, and efficient transportation and infrastructure services. All these benefits are supported in literature (Collins, Watts & McAlister, 2008 and Ali & Al-Kodmany, 2012). Lastly, the fulfilment of human aspiration and ego that comes with the ownership of a commercial multi-storey building is also worthy of mention. In Jos, the investors have adopted a culture of branding their buildings with names as an indication of fulfilled aspiration and ego. 5. Findings and Conclusions This study sets out with the goal of exploring the nexus between commercial real estate investment and its transformative effect on downtown Jos. This lofty goal was broken down into three specific objectives for the purpose of inquiry. The first line of analysis was conducted with the view explicating the nature of commercial real investment in the downtown of Jos. The analysis of research information reveals that different forms of investment opportunities abound and are being explored by investors. Though the downtown area is already congested, but investors are going around it through the following avenues: one, adaptive reuse/conversion of buildings from initial uses to economically viable alternatives; two, redevelopment of obsolete and unattractive buildings into new ones; and lastly, renovation/retrofitting of buildings is also evident. All these support existing literature (Sohmer, 2001; Sicola, 2017). In downtown Jos, redevelopment was found to be overwhelming and dominant over other forms of development. While this is the case, the results allow us to conclude that the downtown of Jos offers a wide variety of commercial real estate investment opportunities. The study also found a widespread practice of mixed-use development but the intermix of residential with retails; residential with retail and offices; and retail with warehouse and offices, were the most common. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that the demand for residential, retail spaces, warehouses and offices, is a key driver of commercial real investment in Jos. The second line of inquiry was focused on scrutinising the drivers of commercial real estate investment in downtown Jos. The analysis reveals a number of contextual factors that were driving investment in the location. These include: attractive rents especially for retail spaces, residential, warehouses and offices; capital appreciation on real estate; high demand for property and more specifically for retail spaces and warehouses and the availability of land through land recycling of DANIEL, EZEANAH & MORDECAI Journal of Env. Sci. Vol.21 No.1 transactions. Other factors that were evident include favourable planning and development control regulations which allow for adaptive reuse/conversion and redevelopment, and the quest for modernisation. All these findings support the findings of previous studies and specifically those of Lieser & Groh (2011), Wemyss (2015), Sen (2016) and Yardney (2021). The last line of the probe gave attention to the impact of commercial real estate development on the downtown Jos. The study found that, to a great extent, recycling of obsolete and unattractive buildings has made it possible to reuse land and redevelop it. On this, we conclude that this is likely to Page | 49 continually transform the downtown area. Also, the practice of mix-use development is a transformation in itself. And, further analysis reveals a gradual shift from the single storey buildings which once permeated the landscape of downtown Jos to multi-storey buildings. We found that buildings of two storey and three storey heights were now common in the downtown area. Though these storey heights, by international standards (CTBUH, 2022), do not qualify for tall buildings, they produce a new skyline in the downtown area. This is a noteworthy transformation from the skyline of one storey buildings that once dominated the downtown area. 6. References Adair, A., Berry, J., McGreal, S., Hutchison, N., Watkins, C., & Gibb, K. (2003). Urban regeneration and property investment performance. Journal of Property Research, 20(4), 371-386. Ali, M. M., & Al-Kodmany, K. (2012). 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