Dubai-based developer Damac this morning launched two new projects in Dubai and Riyadh, worth over $550m, in partnership with luxury brand Fendi.
Damac revealed that it is building a 150m-high tower opposite the Kingdom Tower in Riyadh branded as Damac Esclusiva Luxury Serviced Apartments as well as taking the top 42 floors of a tower in Dubai Marina branded as Damac Residenze.
The company’s managing director, Ziad El Chaar, said that both projects were already under construction and were reaching a milestone of 20% completion required to sell the properties off plan.
Arabtec has been appointed as main contractor on the Dubai Marina scheme and Al Hashim is carrying out the substructure work on the Riyadh project. The firm said that it has not yet named the main contractor for the Riyadh scheme. Both are set to complete in 2016.
El Chaar said that the value of the Riyadh project was around $213m (SR: 800m) while the Dubai project is around $327m (AED: 1.2bn). The Riyadh scheme will contain around 100 luxury serviced apartments designed by Fendi while the Dubai project will contain around 200 Fendi-branded properties with regular Damac properties below.
The location we have in Riyadh can’t get any better,” said El Chaar. “We are on King Fahd Road, we’re facing Kingdom Tower, we’re in the middle of all the prestigious malls. we’re in the new Downtown if Riyadh and we’re close to all of the premium offices.
“The works have started, we’ve finished foundations, we are above ground and we are approximately at 20% of construction level.
He said that although Riyadh is “not known for residential prowess, The young, affluent saudi is looking for a new way of life – something different from his father and his grandfather”.
He said that the Dubai scheme will be situated between the Marina and the Arabian Gulf on the waterfront, offering views over both and the Palm Jumeirah. It will be a 355m-high tower, with the Fendi-branded properties on the top 42 floors and regular Damac properties on the 42 floors beneath. The towers will be a mix of one, two and three-bed units with a number of penthouses.
“This is a project aimed mainly at end-users and investors in the sought-after Dubai Marina. They will be mainly coming from the UK, India and the CIS countries.
“The tower is approximately 355m high. Completion is close to 20%. Arabtec has just finished the foundation and they will be above the ground level during this summer.”
The firm said that the towers would be financed by a mix of the firm’s own equity capital and through off-plan sales. It said that off-plan sales for the Riyadh scheme are being conducted by invitation only.
Sales for the Dubai Marina project have been launched today. Both of the serviced apartment offers will be managed by Damac’s in-house hospitality division.
Damac Properties’ chairman Hussain Sajwani said: “The real estate market in both Riyadh and Dubai are again performing strongly. We believe there will be a very hight level of anticipation for these apartments from nationals and overseas investors.”