MUBADALA Real Estate & Hospitality (MREH) has signed an agreement with the Farglory group, a leading Taiwanese  real estate firm, to develop four plots of lands together measuring 17,000 sq m on Sowwah Island in Abu Dhabi.

The agreement represents the first foreign investment in Sowwah Island, which will become a vibrant, mixed-use central business district and home to 30,000 residents. The agreement is the first investment by Farglory in the Middle East and follows purchases of commercial plots in 2009 by two prestigious UAE banking institutions, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Al Hilal Bank.

Farglory’s four adjacent plots will be developed in phases and when complete, will provide approximately 153,000 sq m of gross floor area of residential, commercial and mixed-use towers with retail services all connected by climate-controlled pedestrian passageways.

The first of these plots is to be developed as a luxury waterfront residential building, expected to be completed in 2014.
The plots occupy a prime location along the eastern waterfront within the first phase of Sowwah Island’s development, which includes the island’s key infrastructure, road network, several bridges and the flagship commercial development, Sowwah Square, home to the new headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Also included in this phase are the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, luxury hotels the Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi at Sowwah Island, and Rosewood Abu Dhabi.

The first phase of the island is at an advanced stage of development with the commercial towers and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange scheduled to be open and operational by mid-2011.