Win-win as Emaar seals Bawadi land deal

Two months ago, having been forced to scrap a land-for-stock deal in Dubai, critics were suggesting the end of the Emaar gravy train. With Dubai property contributing 85% of the company's revenues, and new land increasingly hard (and expensive) to come by, there would be tough times ahead while Emaar waited for overseas projects to come good.

This morning, the picture looks a whole lot healthier. Emaar has agreed to invest just over $1bn in around 63 million sqft of land in the Bawadi, Dubailand, development. At a stroke the company will double its Dubai land portfolio and secures prime pitch in the one of the emirate's biggest projects. Among other things Bawadi is envisaged as the longest chain of luxury hotels in the world along a 10km stretch which will add 51 luxury hotels and more than 60,000 rooms to Dubai, plus the world's biggest shopping strip.

Read More...

Win-win as Emaar seals Bawadi land deal

Two months ago, having been forced to scrap a land-for-stock deal in Dubai, critics were suggesting the end of the Emaar gravy train. With Dubai property contributing 85% of the company's revenues, and new land increasingly hard (and expensive) to come by, there would be tough times ahead while Emaar waited for overseas projects to come good.

This morning, the picture looks a whole lot healthier. Emaar has agreed to invest just over $1bn in around 63 million sqft of land in the Bawadi, Dubailand, development. At a stroke the company will double its Dubai land portfolio and secures prime pitch in the one of the emirate's biggest projects. Among other things Bawadi is envisaged as the longest chain of luxury hotels in the world along a 10km stretch which will add 51 luxury hotels and more than 60,000 rooms to Dubai, plus the world's biggest shopping strip.

Read More...

Wise move

Given that May was another bumper month for outlandish project announcements in Dubai – the truly gigantic shopping development at Dubailand, which will triple the emirate’s retail real estate, was the biggest – it was welcome indeed to see one new project that is not only grounded in reality, but in history too.

Pearls of Dubai, an initiative by the Dubai Multi-Commodities Center, isn’t going to set the precious stones world alight, but that’s precisely why it’s worth looking at it. It’s not the biggest and not the best project in Dubai, but it has something that is lacking in so many projects in this former pearl diving town: a smattering of authenticity. Read More...