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DUBAI (Part 2)
Last post 05 Oct 2008, 5:45 PM by yellow_bird. 264 replies.
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 14 Mar 2007, 6:47 AM |
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yellow_bird
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Joined on 09 May 2005
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World's largest residential tower will provide 'height of luxury' Plans for the world’s tallest residential tower - the Pentonium in Dubai Marina - have been unveiled today. 
Trident International Holdings has partnered to create unique alliances with premium brands from across the world for its new 516 metre-tall tower, a development they describe as the 'defined height of luxury'. The top floors of this world’s only Pentominium will contain a Sky Lounge, Sky Pool, Business Centre and a private observation deck along with ladies & gentleman’s health clubs and a cigar lounge, squash courts, a banqueting hall and private theatre. Each individual residential unit will take up a complete floor of the tower providing over 6500 sq.ft. of living space. Each floor will have a private foyer of its own and smart biometric access control. Taking the element of luxury living spaces to another level are entire floors which are uniquely suspended in mid air, giving the impression of floating penthouses in the sky. “Our aim is to create the new benchmark in luxury living,” said Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Wazir Ali Daredia. “This aim is reflected in all our projects and is what differentiates Trident and its projects. Through the alliances we have partnered with for Pentominium, along with the uniqueness of this proposition, we will achieve this. “The building will be iconic, and its residents exclusive. They will be living in a piece of history. “Trident’s strategy has always been to offer innovative luxury features combined with premium waterfront location, and the Pentominium development is the very expression of this.” Trident is positioned and acknowledged internationally as a boutique developer of successful and highly visible residential towers in Dubai, including Marinascape, Bayside Residence and the Trident Grand Residence.
Like Trident’s other projects, Pentominium will be no more than 500 metres from the waterfront at Dubai marina; the centrepiece of new Dubai. Daredia added: “Our background in luxury goods demonstrates our precision and finesse, our understanding of true opulence. We do not sell towers, we provide a lifestyle.” Pentominium is being designed by award winning and world renowned architects and designers Aedas. Based in Britain, with offices around the world Aedas is responsible for a number of striking buildings and developments in Dubai and across the Gulf already. Interior design of Pentominium will be undertaken by Hirsch Bedner & Associates, exclusive designers of Ritz Carltons, Grand Hyatts & Four Seasons worldwide. There will be a dedicated Concierge Service by Quintessentially, the international private members club, which will be available 24 hours a day to meet residents’ needs whether locally or across the world. Through a series of unique alliances Pentominium owners will have the rights to use a fleet of premium automobiles including a Rolls-Royce Phantom that comes as part of the Pentominium experience along with world renowned Azimut yachts for leisurely trips across the Arabian Gulf. The tower’s spa will be run by Six Senses Spas, the operators of a number of premium world class health resorts around the world including the multi-award winning Soneva Fushi in the Maldives, itself one of the top 10 spas in the world according to Forbes. All public areas will be crystallized by Swarovski and each Pentominium unit will be fitted with state of the art sound equipment Bang & Olufsen can provide. Pentominium’s business lounge (overlooking The Palm) will be accessorized by exclusive Tiffany accessories.
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| 16 Mar 2007, 1:09 PM |
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yellow_bird
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Joined on 09 May 2005
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Posts 917
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Al-Burj - new world’s tallest 1,200 metres! Waterfront tower to be world’s tallest landmark
CONSTRUCTION UAE
16 Mar 2007
Al-Burj centrepiece set to dwarf Burj Dubai at 1,200 metres
The Al-Burj tower being planned by local real estate developer Nakheel will be the world’s tallest, according to those close to the project. Construction will begin later this year and form the centerpiece of the Madinat al-Arab at Dubai Waterfront.
The final height of the tower has not been confirmed but it will be taller than the Burj Dubai which is expected to exceed 800 metres. Companies involved in the project under pre-construction agreements last year have said the initial height was 1,600 metres but that was scaled back to 1,200 metres.
“The tower’s height is confidential but I can confirm it will be taller than the Burj Dubai,” says a source close to the project.
Nakheel has previously only said that Al-Burj will be one of the world’s tallest towers.
The piling and excavation package is due to be tendered soon. “We expect to receive documents in a few months,” says a local piling contractor.
The tower was originally conceived as the focal point of the Palm Jumeirah and known as the Pinnacle. It moved to Dubai Waterfront where it was renamed Al-Burj and received a major design overhaul (MEED 27:10:06).
The consultancy team is led by the UK’s WSP and includes Australia’s Van Der Meer Consulting and US-based Leslie E Robertson Associates. A US team of Pei Partnership Architects and Axis Design Group (ADG) completed the preliminary designs.
Two other kilometre-tall towers are planned in the region – the 1,001-metre Mubarak al-Kabeer in the Silk City project in Kuwait and a 1,022-metre tower in Manama, Bahrain.
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| 16 Mar 2007, 1:17 PM |
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yellow_bird
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Joined on 09 May 2005
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Posts 917
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Why Dubai condos are not like Miami and will avoid a real crisis
The overbuilding of Miami condominium buildings is worrying realtors. They point to 10,000 completions this year and 10,000 next year, while only 11,000 units were absorbed by the market in the previous decade. Importantly the developers are highly leveraged and so are the off plan buyers of many of these units.
At a superficial level there is a comparison with Dubai. One private building materials group has its own estimate that suggests 50,000 units will be completed this year and 50,000 next year, with around half of these units bought by wealthy people as second homes, usually without finance.
The annual take-up of apartments in Dubai is a matter for some debate among analysts. But estimates range from 10-30,000 apartments. Thus the most optimistic analysts see this bulge in completions being very quickly absorbed, and the more pessimistic see a couple of years of oversupply.
Pessimists are more concerned about the leveraging of off plan units, although the figures from Dubai mortgage providers suggest that no more than 15,000 off plan apartments have been bought using finance, and that means that 85 per cent are bought with cash.
Defaults possible
In theory if apartments fell sharply in value then those borrowers who had not actually paid down much more than the deposit, which can be as low as four per cent, could be tempted to hand the keys back to their lender and default.
But the potential for such bad loans is clearly on a far smaller scale than in the US where borrowing is almost universal for real estate while in Dubai such leverage is in its infancy and at low levels. Repossessions could therefore depress the Dubai market for a short while but would not leave it seriously undermined.
Indeed, the amount of equity investment in Dubai real estate is one reason to believe it will ride-out the predicted correction period next year in much better shape than the more advanced markets like Miami. For Miami has less apartments under construction but considerably more real estate leverage wrapped up in this process.
1999 precedent
In the 1999 real estate downturn in Dubai, which followed a local stock market crash and the Asian Financial Crisis, many observers were amazed at the resilience of the sector which at the time again looked to be overbuilding.
What happened was that property owners were not greatly leveraged and just sat out the downturn, even leaving buildings empty rather than cut their rentals.
It could be different this time. But as in 1999 the biggest player in the Dubai market is the Dubai Government, so expect a case of deja vu all over again.
Also it should be noted that the capacity of a dynamic emerging economy like Dubai to absorb spare residential capacity is a lot stronger than a mature economy like Florida which may have similar levels of sunshine and tourism but that is where the comparison ends.
Sure a few fringe developers may decide to axe over ambitious projects, and some might collapse. And that will be the correction, not a massive collapse of real estate prices or a major crisis. Without the leverage it just will not happen, and bargain hunters might have to wait for another future crisis when real estate borrowing forces prices too high to be sustainable.
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| 20 Mar 2007, 10:52 AM |
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| 20 Mar 2007, 7:12 PM |
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yellow_bird
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Joined on 09 May 2005
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Posts 917
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Al Ahli Group signs Marvel deal to build $1b comic theme park in Dubai
Mohammad Khammas, CEO of Al Ahli Group, and David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studio, during a press conference at DIFC.
Dubai: UAE-based Al Ahli Group said it will build a $1-billion theme park in Dubai in a deal with Marvel Entertainment, the American company that licenses comic characters like Spiderman.
Al Ahli said the theme park, scheduled to open in 2011, will bring a new form of children-focused entertainment to the city that is spending billions of dollars on building a viable tourism industry.
"Family entertainment has not evolved with Dubai's growth. This project will address that need," chief executive officer Mohammad Khammas said. The UAE firm is the sole developer of the theme park.
Most ambitious
The government's most ambitious tourism and entertainment project is Dubailand.
It will have 12 entertainment parks, including one of the largest water parks in the world. The theme parks will include The Restless Planet, a dinosaur theme park being developed in cooperation with the UK's Natural History Museum.
Khammas did not say where his theme park would be located.
Al Ahli may create a separate entity that will develop the project and raise money through a listing on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX).
"We are considering it," Khammas told reporters yesterday after signing the licensing agreement with Marvel Studios' chairman David Maisel.
Marvel will make available its full range of characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men, Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer.
The creative team developing the Dubai theme park will be based in Hollywood, Orlando and Dubai throughout the four-year development process.
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| 06 Apr 2007, 7:04 AM |
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yellow_bird
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Joined on 09 May 2005
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Posts 917
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An interesting article from Bloomberg (Full link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...c4w&refer=home ) Dubai Runs Out of Office Space as Economic Boom Draws Companies By Sean Cronin April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai, the Middle East's fastest- growing city, is running out of office space, according to the commercial property broker CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. Nicholas Maclean, managing director of the firm's business in the Mideast, said the lack of space is making it more difficult for foreign companies to profit from the sheikdom's economic boom. Some U.S. companies have agreed to occupy premises that won't be built for two years, he said. ``There's a desperate shortage,'' Maclean said in an interview. In some cases, companies are ``running their operations from other locations until the space eases up.'' The United Arab Emirates economy, the Arab world's second- biggest, grew 8.9 percent in 2006 as the country earned an average of $65 per barrel of oil, about 22 percent higher than the previous year. David Lesar, Halliburton Co.'s chief executive officer, plans to move to Dubai to oversee the company's expansion in the Middle East and Asia. The world's second-largest oilfield-services provider is ``looking at a number of potential places to put an office,'' spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mailed statement. ``We have not yet settled on which one it will be.'' Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's biggest brokerage, and Lancashire Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based insurer, are also looking for office space in Dubai. Baker Hughes Inc., the third-largest oil contractor, plans to create as much as 700,000 square feet of space at the Jebel Ali Free Zone, a 25-acre site owned by the government where foreign companies benefit from government incentives and tax breaks. Rents Jump ``There is no available space for several large-scale international office requirements we have from companies wishing to enter the Dubai market,'' said Maclean. Commercial rent in Dubai has jumped the past two years as landlords capitalized on the lack of space. Prime office space can cost more than 400 dirhams ($109) a square foot to rent, up from 165 dirhams in May 2005, according to CB Richard Ellis. Some office buildings are being sold to investors by the floor, said Abdullah Hageali, chief executive officer of property developer Tameer Holding. ``When it comes to leasing space, occupiers often have to deal with multiple owners,'' said Hageali, whose company is building the 107-story Princess Tower in Dubai. Companies seeking new office space in Dubai are also paying for the fit-out costs of the premises that are being let by developers on a ``shell and core'' basis. ``If it's a new building, you can add another 300 to 500 dirhams per square foot in fit-out costs,'' said Ian Albert, director of the real estate broker Colliers International. ``The annualized cost of occupation over a three-year lease could be 363 dirhams per square foot,'' he said. ``Three years ago it was 160 dirhams per square foot.''
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| 30 Apr 2007, 2:31 PM |
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yellow_bird
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Joined on 09 May 2005
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Posts 917
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Universal Studios arm in Dubailand
Gulf News Report
Dubai: Dubai and Hollywood-based Universal Studios are to set up a Dh8 billion Universal City Dubailand on a 22 million-square-foot plot in Dubailand - the city's major leisure and entertainment destination.
Hollywood-based Universal Studios will provide technical support to the development while Tatweer, part of Dubai Holding, the Dubai Government's investment arm, will invest a further Dh8 billion.
Dubailand is a cluster of entertainment and theme parks that also include the City of Arabia, Dubai Motor City, Dubai Sports City, Al Barari, Aqua Duniya and Falcon City of Wonders.
This project will take investments in Dubailand to Dh73 billion to date, and will add to the attractions in Dubai - the most popular tourism destination in the Gulf.
HH Sheikh Hamdan unveils 'Universal City Dubailand' project at AED 8 billion
Mon, 30 Apr 2007 05:36 PM - Dubai Time
Under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council has launched the ‘Universal City Dubailand’, developed by Tatweer, a 22 million sq ft development within Dubailand with an investment to exceed AED 8 billion.
The centrepiece of the development Universal Studios Dubailand, a specialized theme park, will be amongst the world’s largest theme parks covering an area of 6.5 million sq ft. The city will also include hotels, retail outlets, commercial offices and residential compounds.
Saeed Al Muntafiq, Executive Chairman of Tatweer, said: “There is no doubt that the new project will contribute to highlighting Dubai as a global tourist destination, providing the tourism sector – one of Dubai’s most active sectors – with a strong drive to further diversify the economy.”
He added: “Universal City Dubailand’s unique offering is in its diverse components which will attract visitors from around the world, including the Asian sub continent, central and east Europe and South Africa.”
Moreover, ‘Universal Studios Dubailand’ will blur the line between fact and fiction and be the place where visitors can relive stories once reserved for the silver screen. Scenes from the biggest names in filmmaking history such as ‘Jurassic Park’ and the motion picture ‘King Kong’ amongst many others will be transformed into adventures with the completion of the project, which will contain four zones including Hollywood zone, Metropolis zone, and Adventure zone.
Thomas L. Williams, Chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, said: “The vision of the leadership of Dubai, the investor-supportive environment and the convenient geographic location of Dubailand, combined with other strategic and iconic offerings, all contribute in making Dubai our location of choice for our first branded theme park in this region.”
Universal City Dubailand consists of more than 4000 luxurious hotel rooms, 100 restaurants, alongside a range of retail outlets. It will also include an integrated area of commercial office space as well as a distinguished residential area in the heart of the action.
Universal Studios is a globally respected and internationally renowned theme park brand. With three-time Academy Award winner, Steven Spielberg as creative consultant, its theme parks are known for some of most thrilling and technologically advanced “ride-the-movies”, motion picture and television show-based attractions.
Universal operates theme parks in Los Angeles, Florida, Japan and has licensing agreements with existing parks in development in Singapore. Universal Parks & Resorts worldwide enjoys more than 46 million guests annually to its theme parks, hotel facilities and CityWalk entertainment centres.
Al Muntafiq added that the Universal Studios Dubailand will be one of four similar family entertainment destinations around the world. Universal Studios Dubailand will be in addition to the other ‘Universal Studios’ in Los Angeles, Orlando and Japan.
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| 01 May 2007, 2:57 PM |
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