With three staff bedrooms, three kitchens, four living rooms and eight bathrooms, this five-bedroom villa on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island is clearly designed for someone with a large household.
Anyone who spends time wandering around the lavish new homes at TDIC’s Saadiyat Beach Villas will quickly find themselves lost amid a maze of rooms, many of which appear to have no obvious use.
“This one is another reception room … I think,” says Almer Agmyren, the managing director of Rex Real Estate which is marketing the villas. He consults his floor plan and scratches his head. “Yes, another reception room.”
Rex has started a final marketing push to shift the remaining seven of the largest and most luxurious mansions at TDIC’s 344 home Saadiyat Beach Villas – a development which first began its handover to buyers back in 2011.
The 12,500 square foot villa we snoop around also includes a 25 metre private swimming pool, a gym room, an Italian style courtyard and, with a plot size of 25,000 sq ft, plenty of space for gardens or a barbecue area.
Whoever snaps up this cavernous home will have to fork out a total of Dh23.1 million.
And that’s not even the biggest or the most expensive on the street. According to Rex, the company was planning to stage its marketing event at the six-bedroom villa next door but the 15,000 square foot mansion was sold a week before for Dh27m.
Within Saadiyat Beach Villas, the most expensive property to go on sale to date has been the 32 St Regis branded four and five bedroom villas close to the hotel. These went on the market for between Dh22m and Dh25m, making them among the most expensive properties in the capital.
And it appears there may be more luxury homes on offer soon. According to master developer TDIC’s plans, by 2020 the Dh100 billion island development is expected to provide homes for 145,000 people – that’s a population roughly the size of Dundee in Scotland.
Q&A
What are the good points about the Saadiyat Beach Villas?
The fact that residents started moving into the villas nearly three years ago means the community has had a chance to bed down a bit. Driving away from the villa, you could be forgiven for thinking the quiet suburban road running through the neighbourhood was located in one of the more affluent neighbourhoods on the outskirts of a large American city. Residents are out playing tennis on the outdoor courts and in most of the large suburban porches, children’s bicycles and play equipment are carefully stashed.
And the drawbacks?
Obviously it’s a lot of money to part with. Moreover, TDIC’s ambitious development plans means that the island may remain a construction site until at least 2020. And as with many new houses in the UAE, the landscaping is left unfinished, leaving prospective buyers to design their own gardens.
What is the tenure?
Emiratis can buy the villas freehold while foreigners can purchase a 99-year freehold.
What are the development plans for Saadiyat?
When finished, Saadiyat Island, which covers 27 square kilometres and is 10 minutes from central Abu Dhabi, will eventually be home to 145,000 people and will boast Guggenheim and Louvre museums, premium hotels and a retail complex. A third phase of villas is currently underway. In July Al Jaber Building was selected by a TDIC subsidiary to build 462 new villas stretching along nearly 7 kilometres of waterfront in a project known as the Hidd Al Saadiyat villa development. It is scheduled for completion in 2016.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
PRISCILLA
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Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh12 million
Engine 8.0-litre quad-turbo, W16
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch auto
Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm
Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How it works
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The%20specs
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
The specs: 2018 Audi Q5/SQ5
Price, base: Dh183,900 / Dh249,000
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder / 3.0L, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic / Eight-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,000rpm / 354hp @ 5,400rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,600rpm / 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy: combined 7.2L / 100km / 8.3L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Maratha Arabians 107-8 (10 ovs)
Lyth 21, Lynn 20, McClenaghan 20 no
Qalandars 60-4 (10 ovs)
Malan 32 no, McClenaghan 2-9
Maratha Arabians win by 47 runs
Honeymoonish
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