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Mar 29 2012

Real Madrid’s RAK resort to open by 2015

Thursday, Mar 29, 2012

Gulf News

Dubai Call it the special one.

World-famous football club Real Madrid plans to co-develop a $1 billion (Dh3.678 billion) luxury resort and theme park on the artificial island of Al Marjan in Ras Al Khaimah.

Details of the project will be announced today when senior officials from the club and His Highness Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, gather this morning at the island.

The development is a joint project between Real Madrid, the government of Ras Al Khaimah and Luxembourg-based RAK Marjan Island Football Investment Fund. It plans to be open for visitors by 2015.

The resort and theme club are designed to attract athletes, families and Real Madrid supporters.

It will include a theme park, a Real Madrid museum, sports facilities, a marina, luxury hotels and villas — and a 10,000-seat football stadium open to the sea on one side which can double as a concert venue.

It’s the first time Real Madrid has contemplated such a venture.

The Real Madrid Resort Island will include a 12-hectare theme park that will feature a roller coaster that will partially go out over the sea, an underwater circuit and a football field feature hologram technology and robots.

The development will include 400 apartments and 48 villas with gardens, swimming pools and a private beach.

A planned five-star hotel will have rooms which will open out onto the stadium for games and concerts.

The project will be managed by the Luxembourg-based RAK Marjan Island Football Investment Fund. Its board members include Dr Khater Massaad, CEO of the RAK Investment Authority. RAK Investments Ltd will hold a controlling interest in the fund.

Also on the board are Luis Armand de Rouge, CEO of RAK Investments and RAK Marjan Island Football, Moulay Ali Mansouri and Rachid Bahtaoui.

Details of the project were initially floated at Real Madrid’s Bernabeau Stadium with coach Jose Mourinho — the self-named “special one” — in attendance. With Real Madrid playing and winning 3-0 in Cyprus on Tuesday night, some of the first-team squad are expected at the official unveiling today.

By Mick O’Reilly?Senior Associate Editor

© Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.


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