Leading Dubai-based property developer Union Properties (UP) – buoyed by an overwhelming response to its five newly-launched projects – is upbeat about the construction market and believes that the boom is here to stay for quite a while.
“The response we have received to our five newly launched projects shows the confidence people have in our projects as UP has never failed to exceed the expectations of the occupants, be it a residential, commercial or a retail property,” Lesley Ziri, UP senior manager property management, told Gulf Construction.
The response to the five projects – Green Community West, Motor City, Uptown Mirdiff, One Park Apartments and Park Lane Apartments – showcased at the UP Open House at a properties trade fair at the Dubai World Trade Centre was such that the developer had to freeze sales on some of the properties within a couple of hours of launching, she says.
Giving details of the five projects, she said UP is looking at finishing the latest offerings within a span of one to three years and as per schedule the last of them should be ready by the 2008.
Valued at Dh7 billion ($1.9 billion) Motor City carries the highest investment tag and expected to be finished by the third quarter of 2008. The earliest project to be completed will be the Uptown Mirdiff, which is scheduled to be occupied by the end of this year.
Green Community West
Probably the most eagerly awaited project from Properties Investments (PI), a joint venture between UP and Dubai Investments, Green Community West project is Phase II of UP’s highly successful Green Community project. Spread over 100 hectares adjacent to Phase I, this is a residential offering of apartments and villas of three different types including luxury, family and the new type of villas UP terms as bungalow. Though the villas and apartments would be built similar to units built in phase I, there would be slight differences in design concept and finishes. Even the sizes of the villas on offer would be approximately the same as Phase I, Ziri points out.
This project is currently at the design stage and PI is going through the master planning and landscaping at the moment. “As soon as the master planning is done, the project will move into the detailed design stage and then the tendering process for various contracts will start. We are looking at a three-year time span before the first occupants move in,” she adds.
PI is offering some 830 units and the size of the project is larger than the first phase. However, the cost of the project is yet not ascertained, an investment value would be declared once everything else is done, she says.
PI has kept the Green Community West as a purely residential offering.
The developer is especially focusing on the landscaping aspect of the project and is concentrating on providing maximum facilities in common areas such as community pools and landscaping.
Though the cost structure is not yet finalised, there is expected to be certain increase in the prices compared to Phase I.
“There was a pre-booking of Green Community West last October and at the moment bookings are frozen. There are some 1,500 names on the waiting list for this project which is a clear indication of people’s trust in UP projects and indicates the scale of popularity of Green Community Phase I,” she continues.
“By next month tenants who have already secured bookings will be called in to view the project layouts and the pricing details on sales option as this is not a rental property,” she says.
Motor City
The second phase of Dubai Autodrome’s development, the Motor City – a business park for motor and motor-related industries - will take shape on 30 million sq ft of land.
UP has just completed the master planning and is offering plots to manufacturers predominantly from the motor sector within the Offices District, Retail District and, High Technology District, allowing them to have a direct access to on-track action. Also part of the plan is a Residential District, which will be located at the far end of Motor City.
Another aspect of the project is the 50-hectare Ferrari World theme park, the first of its kind in the world, incorporating a museum, interactive displays, clubhouse, restaurants and exclusive shops.
While preliminary work is under way on the residential side, UP is planning to offer land for individual development but under the guidelines and specifications set by UP in terms of design and structure, she explains.
The city – masterplanned and researched by Burt Hill & Associates of the US – has been designed keeping in mind the needs of Gulf’s expanding motor industry and, when completed will serve as the hub of growth for this particular sector.
The first phase of the project includes an FIA-certified race track and associated buildings.
Uptown Mirdiff
Spread over a 23-hectare plot, the Dh700 million ($190.7 million) Uptown Mirdiff is the first among the five new offerings to be completed. The project’s anchor supermarket has been completed and has already opened doors for business. UP is hoping to see the retail/commercial area, which is almost complete, fully occupied and operational by the end of this year.
On the residential side, Uptown Mirdiff’s first apartment building is expected to be completed early May while the rest of the residential units are scheduled to be complete towards the end of this year, she says.
Once complete, Mirdiff would include a variety of residential properties from one to two-bed apartments, villas, play areas for children, recreational facilities nestled within landscaped gardens and public parks.
One Central Park
This 80-storey residential/commercial/retail skyscraper – which is expected to cost Dh1.8 billion – is currently in the design stage. A design team of Fosters and Partners, a leading UK-based architectural practice headed by Lord Norman Foster, is finalising the designs.
Coming up within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the tower will rise on a 215,200 sq ft plot and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2008. The tower will include 30 office floors with 20,000 sq ft of net leasable space per floor and 48 floors of one to three-bedroom apartments and penthouses.
Like the rest of the DIFC buildings, it will be built on a podium to accommodate underground parking. Six levels of underground parking with 50,000 sq ft of retail space on the ground floor has been planned for this project.
Park Lane Apartments
Also to come up on a 247,500 sq ft plot within the DIFC, the Dh1.5 billion Park Lane will include a five-star hotel and serviced apartments. The management of the hotel and serviced apartments will be taken over by the operator while the Park Lane apartments would remain under UP’s management.
The project is currently under final designs and is targeted for completion in three years.
The apartments, offered with a choice of one to four-bedrooms on a freehold basis, feature a blend of architectural styles influenced by ancient Arabia and the exotic Mediterranean.
Market
Commenting on the Dubai market, Ziri says: “I believe Dubai is growing at an incredible pace and it will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. We have not reached the peak yet and are not even close to that point. Demand for new projects is the same as it was five years ago or probably even higher.”
“Dubai is a diverse metropolis. It is not just a business centre – it is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination particularly in Europe. Many have come just to have the feel of the classic Arabia and decided to take up residence here,” she says.
Elaborating on which market segment UP is targeting, she says: “We are eyeing a very wide client base. An example is the five projects that UP has launched recently. Motor City is motor-sports related and targets one particular type of audience. There are opportunities in the business, retailing and residential sectors. However, it is based around the motor sports industry.
“On the other hand, Green Community West is for a different set of people, mainly a wide variety of expatriates who are looking for permanent residences as not a lot of people buy such a property for reselling with investment as their prime motive.
“Uptown Mirdiff is again the same concept but targeting a different market. The units on offer are a relatively smaller, the location is inland and the plot size are smaller. This project is targeted at the middle income group who are interested in studios, one to two-bed apartments and smaller villas.”
“In Green Community West, the actual built-up area of a luxury villa would go up to 7,000 sq ft on a plot of around 14,000 sq ft, which is hugely different from Mirdiff offerings where the largest villa would have a built-up area of 2,500 sq ft in a three-bedroom villa.”
Regarding legislations on the freehold or leased properties, she says: “UP offerings of free-hold properties are based on a 99-year lease with the exception of the DIFC which has a different legislation. We are following the law of the land and we are told the DIFC has the option of complete freehold facility. Even the 99-year lease is a solid legal entity. There is no land registration involved and it’s a simple contract explaining the property is bought for this period of time, which is transferable, inheritable and re-sellable. We already have handled some cases of resale in Green Community Phase I and this system works perfectly.”
Commenting on the rising costs of construction and maintaining competitiveness in the market, she says: “We are not compromising on the standards of construction or finishes as we work to our own business plan. UP design the properties with the ultimate user in the mind and take into account what the tenants would be need.
She is of the firm view that the demand in the rental and sales market would remain parallel. “As far as UP is concerned we have a high demand both for rental and sales sides and there are long waiting lists at both the ends. As long as there is demand we can anticipate the rates would either remain static or they would increase.
“While selling property offers immediate returns, developers need to diversify and venture into both segments. UP is definitely one developer which has explored the both and is very successful in each of the sectors,” she concludes.
