Mohammed al-Mubarak, chief commercial officer of Aldar Properties, said on a press conference on Thursday the project will “offer the super rich the very best in housing”.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is estimated to be completed in 2010 and will be owned 100 % by Aldar while Ferrari receives royalties for lending out its brand. The theme park is located on Yas Island in close proximity to the Yas Marina Circuit which will host its first Formula 1-race this weekend.

Maktoob Business

The plots are in several development projects such as Raha Beach, which is under development by Aldar Properties, the Rawdhat Abu Dhabi project by Reem Developers, and the Saraya project by Sorouh Real Estate.

Aabar said in a statement that the land would be used for development projects such as hotels, and residential and commercial buildings.

In February, the company signed an agreement with Tamouh Investments to acquire six plots on Reem Island, at Dh1,285 a square foot, for a total of Dh5bn. Development plans for Reem Island include four commercial tower buildings and eight mixed residential-commercial tower buildings, with a net floor area of 361,397 square metres. The 12 towers are due for completion in 2012.

Aabar’s biggest acquisition to date was the 9.1 per cent stake in Daimler, the car maker, for $2.7bn in March.

The company also completed the purchase of the Swiss-based private banking division of American International Group, renamed Falcon Private Banking.

The company agreed in December to pay 307m Swiss francs (Dh1.02bn) and assume 100m francs in debt to take over the bank.

Aabar reported that its first-quarter net profit increased to Dh177.3m, from Dh40.1m for the same period a year ago, after its state-owned parent, the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), converted a bond issue into shares.

IPIC uses Aabar as its investment vehicle outside the oil industry.

The National

The new development will provide around 5,000 homes for middle-income UAE families, as part of the Abu Dhabi Government’s housing initiative. It will comprise of five villages, each with its own village centre, schools, and mosques. The town centre will be the focal point of the entire development and will contain civic buildings, a 65,000 square metre retail mall, a hospital, 50,000 square metres of commercial office space, a hotel and a sports and leisure complex..

Residents will have excellent access to education, with 15 schools catering for children of all ages from early learning to high school.

Located to the east of Abu Dhabi International Airport and the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway, Al Falah has been designed as a practical and sustainable community within a development area of approximately 12 million square metres. Moving away from the traditional “grid” approach for developments, Al Falah’s innovative design encourages community gathering with a number of open parks that connect the residential, commercial and leisure elements.

Speaking at the launch of Al Falah, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Chairman of Aldar Properties commented,

“Aldar is proud to be a major contributor to one of the main pillars of Plan Abu Dhabi 2030. Increasing housing availability for middle income families is one of many ways through which Aldar is living up to its mission of building sustainable communities to cater to the growth needs of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Al Falah is a residential development that creates a strong sense of community, not only by its design but also through the community centres and amenities that will be available for the residents.”

Zawya

According to Steve K. Worrel, Director of Mixed Use Development at Yas Island, availability of more workers and bidders have increased because of the economic downturn. Additionally, the prices on materials have gone down.

Currently, 37.000 workers are stationed at Yas Island, whereas 10.000 joined in the past six months. According to mr Worrel, six months ago it was not so easy to get construction workers immediately. It was also difficult to get more than two bidders for various projects.

Now, the situation has changed and the supply of workers and bidders have increased, and construction costs have decreased. Worrel told the press that the money saved would not be used for any additions to the projects, as the projects have fixed plans. About 60 per cent of construction of the first phase of the projects has been completed, costing about Dh38 to Dh40 billion, said Worrel.

Gulfnews

The law will allow freehold owners to obtain a six-month renewable residency visa, regardless of their nationality or the size and value of the property, said Brig Gen Nasser al Minhali, the acting director general of the federal Department of Naturalisation and Residency (DNR).

According to Brig Gen Minhali, the aim is to create a unified visa system related to home purchases.

“It is a security organisational procedure. We do not want each emirate to develop procedures on its own, so we will unify it under the Ministry of Interior.”

He also said that residency visas granted in the past would remain valid, but it would not be possible to renew them until the federal law was implemented. He refused to reveal further details, as the law is still being studied.

The proposal is welcomed by property developers, as the introduction of a single property visa system for the whole country would benefit a housing market that has experienced a downturn the last couple of months. Both Dubai-based MAG Group Properties and Aldar, Abu Dhabi’s largest property developer, expressed their warm feelings on the proposal.

Even though overall people buy as a long-term investment, or to profit from sale or rent, this could be a motivating factor for some buyers.

The National

Despite signs of a weakening market, a report from Credit Suisse on the UAE real estate market predicts that Abu Dhabi will weather the real estate slump significantly better than neighbouring Dubai.

The company’s analysts had predicted varying fourth quarter results among the large real estate companies but anticipated that Aldar and Sorouh would report respective increases of 62% and 13% on Q3 results. Sorouh remained Credit Suisse’s preferred company, thanks to its high margin land sales in 2008. Analysts estimated its annual profits at $735m, a year-on-year growth of 113%.

However, despite the growth of both companies, experts at Credit Suisse warned that the proportion of Aldar’s earnings coming from revaluation of investment properties remains high, at 40%. These revalued figures are also predicted to slip in the first quarter of 2009.

Supply and demand

The report supported the Abu Dhabi market over Dubai and other Gulf markets. Analysts Andrei Nikitin, Ahmed Badr and Hans Zayed said:

“We remain advocates of Abu Dhabi-focused developers owing to the expected influx of state money into the sector to address the current supply deficit, as well as availability of project financing from the Abu Dhabi government and/or sovereign wealth funds.”

“In this respect we nominate Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate as our top picks in the UAE.”

The undersupply of property in Abu Dhabi paired with government support for the ongoing health of the sector is projected to keep the market relatively buoyant.

However, the report also pointed out that the negative press reports regarding the sustainability of Dubai’s property sector have had an impact on Abu Dhabi companies. It suggested that selling prices will have to reduce as a result of the knock-on effect from Dubai.

By contrast, the Credit Suisse experts ‘have a cautious outlook’ on Dubai’s real estate market.

AME Info

The commissioning will be in time for the UAE capital hosting the final round of the 2009 Formula One Grand Prix during the month.

“Aldar is working towards meeting the objective of opening the hotels for the Formula One Grand Prix. The construction of the hotels on the Yas Island started during the last quarter of 2007 and we are on track to complete them on schedule,”

Aldar’s Marketing and Media Director Ousama Gannoum told Gulf News.

“Everybody is affected by the financial tsunami, nobody is immune. However, all projects that we started are going on as planned and we are not laying off any person,”

said Ousama Ghannoum, Aldar’s marketing director.

He said Aldar’s ongoing projects in Abu Dhabi, which include the Formula 1 track, Central Market project, hotel projects and Al Raha Beach residences, are going to be completed on schedule.

“We have tight delivery schedules and we are going at full speed,”

Ghannoum said, adding the Formula 1 track would be ready next year to host the last Formula 1 race of 2009 calendar year in Abu Dhabi on November 1.

Gulfnews

Leading retailers, property developers and investors attending MAPIC, one of the world’s major retail real estate events, will have a closer look at Aldar’s “Yas Mall”, a Super Regional facility which will provide in excess of 700 retail and catering units including four major department stores and six hotels.

The Super Regional Yas Mall will serve not only the local and regional markets but also the millions of tourists visiting Yas Island’s host of tourist and leisure attractions, including the world’s first Ferrari Theme Park, a water park and the 2009 Formula 1 Yas Marina Circuit which will host the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November 2009

“The Mall will serve one of the most affluent populations in the world, with Abu Dhabi already ranking among the world’s top list in terms of GDP per capita. The capital’s local population is expected to increase by 40 % in the next five years. By then, Abu Dhabi hopes to draw some 2.7 million tourists. Yas Mall , on account of its strategic location will be best placed to serve both the national and international customer,”

comments Mohammed Al Mubarak, Aldar’s Chief Commercial Officer

The Yas Mall will feature a fantastic line up of brand name stores from around the world, along with the world’s most dazzling video and water displays. It will be the focal point for the community playing host to a variety of tastes and budgets, special events, exclusive exhibitions and cinema premieres.

Comments Philip Vaughan, Director of Retail Development, Aldar Properties:

“MAPIC is a great opportunity to reveal details of Aldar Super Regional Yas Mall. We are also keen to show investors and industry leaders the progress across our entire retail portfolio. On completion in 2011, the Mall’s retail area will amount to some 460,000 m2 and together with the adjoining theme parks will total a massive 780,000 m2 of retail and leisure.”

Yas Mall will be directly connected to the themed attractions on the Yas Island, including the Ferrari World Abu Dhabi theme park and the water park. There will be high level dining terraces and garden areas as well as a lush interior environment and beautiful water features, all contained under the one spectacular roof.

The design of Yas Mall has been inspired from the best retail destinations in the world to create something unique and inspiring to visitors. Extra emphasis has been applied to create a uniquely positive customer experience, through accessibility and tenant mix.

“Our participation in MAPIC is expected to encourage greater international retail investments in Abu Dhabi, and defines Yas Mall as one of the world’s largest lifestyle, shopping and entertainment destinations”

added Vaughan.

MAPIC on it’s 14th edition, will have over 2,300 retail developers from 71 countries, and more than 1,050 exhibitors with a comprehensive range of retail real estate projects, that will offer an incomparable perspective of the sector.

ALDAR Properties, PJSC, Abu Dhabi’s leading integrated property development, investment and management company, announced today that it has created a new subsidiary dedicated to transforming Abu Dhabi into an international luxury boating destination.

The new entity, ALDAR Marinas, will provide a broad range of leisure marine facilities and services that constitute an integral part of ALDAR’s waterfront developments. The first marinas to become operational are located on ALDAR’s premier Yas Island and Al Raha Beach projects. Each marina will have its own identity and will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the yachting community from entry level boating to destination yachting.

Additionally, ALDAR Marinas will provide a comprehensive boat service yard incorporating a spectrum of associated marine services.

The Yas Marina, surrounded by the Formula One race track, will provide berthing for luxury yachts to 100 meters as well as guest berthing. The exclusive Yas Yacht Club located at Yas Marina will feature fine dining facilities and provide prime viewing of the Grand Prix race track. Guests at Yas Island Marina will have an ideal location from which to enjoy access to the Yas Island theme parks, golf course and five star hotels.

“Marinas are a salient feature of the world class waterfront communities we are building at various sectors in our waterfront projects in Abu Dhabi coast, and it is only natural that these facilities are run and operated to world-class standards to provide the residents of our communities and visitors of our unique leisure destinations with the ultimate in services and facilities,”

Ronald Stephen Barrott, CEO of ALDAR Properties, commented while speaking at the launch of this exclusive facility.

“The vision of ALDAR Marinas is to create a safe, sustainable and enjoyable recreational boating culture in Abu Dhabi and lead Abu Dhabi into becoming a premier boating destination. With the provision of world-class marina facilities and affiliated operations that enhance ALDAR’s premier waterfront development projects, the Marinas will command the highest integrity that is respected by our customers, competitors and the community,” he added.

Designed to take advantage of the tranquil azure waters of the Arabian Gulf and many islands surrounding Abu Dhabi, ALDAR marinas will be a year-round boating destination.

“We also aim to add value to the joys of boat ownership by taking complete responsibility of an owner’s asset and develop a lifestyle for all socio-economic groups within the leisure boat category,” Barrott further explained.

WAM/SA