TDIC to build 100 super-luxury villas on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi

Visitors look at a model of Saadiyat Cultural District at the TDIC stand during the Cityscape Global show in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

TDIC plans to build up to 100 of its most expensive villas close to the soon-to-open Louvre museum on Saadiyat Island.

Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the government-owned developer of cultural and residential projects in the capital, said that it was about to unveil a new phase of between 85 and 100 ultra-modern glass villas opposite the St Regis Hotel on Saadiyat Island.

Luxury villas on Saadiyat Island are already among the most expensive homes in the city, with existing homes reselling on the secondary market for about Dh1,850 per square foot. TDIC said it hoped to sell the new villas for higher prices than these.

"We know that we will be able to sell these villas because we know the market segment," said Ahmed Al Fahim, the executive director of sales and leasing at TDIC, speaking on the sidelines of the Cityscape Global property show in Dubai yesterday.

“We know that there is a demand for big villas. We are getting a lot of enquiries for people asking for a villa on the golf course and we don’t have any. From masterplanning you have to put the most expensive villas in the most expensive areas,” he added.

TDIC said that the new villas in Saadiyat Beach District would be designed as ultra-modern homes of glass and steel.

“Prices on Saadiyat tend to be high because people are factoring the belief that once the Louvre and Guggenheim are built then demand will increase,” said Ben Crompton, the managing partner at Crompton Partners estate agents. “At the real super-luxury end of the market mortgage caps tend not to matter that much because only the super-wealthy who don’t need a mortgage can afford them anyway.”

“There is a real lack of villas in Abu Dhabi,” Mr Crompton added. “At the moment there are only about 700 villas on Saadiyat Island and TDIC is building the next phases out slowly to keep prices high.”

TDIC is showcasing 461 luxury apartments, which it plans to build in the Saadiyat Cultural District, at Cityscape.

At the same time, TDIC reported that it had sold 16 of the 27 plots of land it has been marketing at the Marina District on Saadiyat close to the new New York University campus. The Egyptian developer Tivoli Dom is designing an entertainment and dining venue that will anchor the project.

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