With just days to go before Cityscape and property prices soaring, Meydan, the private developer behind the world’s largest horse racing complex, and the Indian developer Sobha are gearing up their efforts to market the first phases of a Dh21 billion mega project in Dubai.
The pair which are jointly developing 1,500 luxury villas set in 1,100 acres of parkland around the world’s biggest man-made lagoon, known as District One, are hoping they can take advantage of Dubai’s current property boom to launch an off-plan sales push.
The joint venture partners announced yesterday that they had completed construction of 80 per cent of the nine show villas they will be using to showcase the scheme. Full completion is expected in November.
Further announcements are set to follow in the build-up to the property exhibition as the developers seek to attract interest in the 48-hectare project, which is expected to be completed in about seven years and will be built around a 7 kilometre lagoon to be constructed by the swimming pool technology company Crystal Lagoons.
The project will form the first phase of the planned multibillion dollar Mohammed bin Rashid City project, located between Sheikh Zayed Road, Emirates Road and Al Khail Road, which is slated to comprise a new world’s biggest shopping mall dubbed The Mall of the World and more than 100 hotels.
The MBR City project, which was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, last November, represents a revival of a similar Mohammed bin Rashid Gardens project, which was first announced in 2008 but never came off the drawing board because of the global financial crisis.
The 2008 master plan had suggested the Gardens project would cover 74 sq km, and cost US$60bn.
Back in the 2008 property boom, Cityscape became known as a show of excess, with investors throwing cheques down on off-plan properties. All that changed when the Dubai property market crashed and the exhibition shrank to a fraction of its boom time size.
But now with villa prices in Dubai up 26 per cent over the past 12 months to the end of September and apartment prices up 42 per cent according to the property broker Asteco, developers are once again gearing up for strong sales.
“Mohammed bin Rashid City-District One is poised to become a monumental destination in Dubai, offering a residential development in the heart of the city that is currently unique to anything else in the region,” said Saeed Humaid Al Tayer, the Meydan chairman and chief executive.
“District One will be the jewel in Sobha’s crown,” said PNC Menon, the founder and chairman of Sobha Group.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
Key features of new policy
Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6
Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge
A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools
Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
About Tenderd
Started: May 2018
Founder: Arjun Mohan
Based: Dubai
Size: 23 employees
Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
How%20to%20avoid%20getting%20scammed
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3ENever%20click%20on%20links%20provided%20via%20app%20or%20SMS%2C%20even%20if%20they%20seem%20to%20come%20from%20authorised%20senders%20at%20first%20glance%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAlways%20double-check%20the%20authenticity%20of%20websites%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EEnable%20Two-Factor%20Authentication%20(2FA)%20for%20all%20your%20working%20and%20personal%20services%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EOnly%20use%20official%20links%20published%20by%20the%20respective%20entity%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EDouble-check%20the%20web%20addresses%20to%20reduce%20exposure%20to%20fake%20sites%20created%20with%20domain%20names%20containing%20spelling%20errors%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
DUBAI%20BLING%3A%20EPISODE%201
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine