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Al Futtaim Group is investing Dh9 billion ($2.5 billion) in the first phase of the Dubai Festival City (DFC) development which is to be completed in 2006.
Part of the project will be opened to tenants for occupancy this year, said a senior official.
The masterplan for the entire project has been updated to accommodate new ideas and expand the facility to incorporate new elements into the facility billed 'A city within a city'. This include constructing between four to 10 new hotels and resorts to serve more tourists.
The first among its 15 development components, Al Badia Golf Resort, is opening its doors to tenants in August this year. About 70 per cent of the 65 houses have already been rented out.
DFC is also negotaiting with a French hypermarket operator to set up its first outlet at the Waterfront, which will be the third French hypermarket chain to enter the UAE market after Carrefour and Geant.
While Carrefour entered the local market in the 1990s, Geant is expected to open its first outlet at the Gardens Shopping Mall, which will open its doors early next year.
Phil McArthur, DFC's director for leasing and marketing, said: "The Waterfront will be opened in September 2006. Construction of the facility has just begun, with piling and earthwork being carried out."
The two-phased development of the DFC will see the first phase ending in 2006, when the major elements taking shape, while the more elaborate second phase taking shape between 2007 and 2012. When completed, the mixed-use upscale development will house a community of 75,000.
A city built on water, DFC will be distinguished by its canals, waterfalls, pools and fountains. The Waterfront will be the centrepiece of the project, offering a beautiful setting for meeting, dining and shopping. It will provide world-class entertainment and hospitality facilities and exclusive residential and office accommodation.
Other zones will comprise office buildings, waterfront villas, hotel and office facilities, auto retail centre, community centre and utilities, central park, resort hotel, terraced hillside villas, and 18-hole championship golf course designed by world renown-ed golf course designer Robert Trent Jones, apartments and a festival village.
The automotive and value retail centre will start functioning in March 2005 while the Waterfront will become operational in late 2006.
The Group reshuffled the management of DFC a few months ago, following which works have begun in a big way.
Al Futtaim Carillion has recently been awarded a Dh2.56 billion ($700 million) contract for the Waterfront, which is a multi-million square foot meeting place designed for the people to shop, dine, play and relax.
The Waterfront will house the Festival Boulevard with 10 flagship retailer locations, 1.8 million square foot of gross leasing area, having over 100 international restaurants, cafes, bristos and fast food outlets, 11,800 car parking spaces including 8,530 covered car parking as well as a 600-room hotel to be managed by the Intercontinental Hotels Group.
McArthur added: "Al Futtaim Carillion has recently been awarded a Dh2.56 billion ($700 million) after a strong bidding which included leading contractors. Once intense construction work begins by September, we will see over 10,000 people working at the site.
"The Waterfront, which will combine the science and arts of retailing, will be constructed around a 250 metre wide internationally styled Marina, featuring a waterfront promenade and interactive canal. Lifestyle retail, fashion, entertainment, food and beverage are the key driving elements focussing on strong retailing principles.
"It will be the first festival waterfront marketplace in Dubai featuring four themed pavilions, each bringing with them totally different, memorable experiences for visitors to discover. These are: Kids World, Maritime Expo, Waterfront Souq and Food Expo.
"Most of the shopping malls in Dubai have a closed temperature-controlled environment, with shops located inside the mall. However, at the Waterfront, we have shops looking outside – the sunlight and facing the marina or the canal.
"It will have the largest IKEA, Marks and Spencer, Toys 'R' Us stores in the Middle East. The facility will have a cinema complex with 12 screens offering the latest blockbusters.
"The Waterfront will eventually become the shopping and entertainment destination by itself for Dubai's residents as well as tourists."
He said, interest among the major retail brands have been very strong. "Out of a 750,000 square foot, 640,000 square foot of retail space have been committed by the retailers," McArthur said.
DFC spans over 1600 acres on the Dubai Creek and will be a unique waterfront mixed-use real estate project. Under a 10 year development plan launched in 2001, Dubai Festival City will be created as a world-class destination offering an opportunity to live, work and enjoy leisure activities in line with an exciting Dubai lifestyle.
Stretching 3.8 kilometres along the Creek, Dubai Festival City will comprise 15 distinct development zones offering an excellent mix of entertainment, dining, shopping, edutainment, sport and leisure facilities, automotive dealerships, hotels, a marina, residential and office components.
Four of these zones are devoted to retail with over two million square feet of leasable area.
CENTREPIECE OF THE PROJECT
Waterfront fact-file
• Over 400 stores
• Over 100 restaurants and cafes.
• 10 international flagship stores creating Dubai's first High Street address.
• Four themed waterfront pavilions, creating the Middle East's first waterfront festival market place.
• 250-metre wide marine with berthing facilities.
• 600-room InterContinental Hotel.
• 10,800 parking spaces.
• 400-metre long canal with cafes and shops.
• Opening September 2006.
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