Developer marshals resources for Al Reem Island high-rise

Friday, Dec 09, 2011

Gulf News

Dubai With the home stretch beckoning for the ongoing projects in Dubai, Tameer Holding Investment is marshalling resources for its next big thing — a cluster of high-rises on Abu Dhabi’s Al Reem Island.

There is a lot of prestige riding on the mixed-use development, and not least for being the one to bear the Tameer name and the company’s first in the emirate.

“We are tendering to appoint a main contractor for the Tameer Towers,” said Federico Tauber, president of Tameer.

“The development is 100 per cent owned by us and we are looking at a completion schedule in the last quarter of 2013.”

In terms of scale, the project could well be one of the biggest from a private developer in Abu Dhabi in the near term. One of the high-rises will be a 74-storey structure shaped in the form of a diamond.

But with off-plan sales virtually non-existent, how is Tameer looking to tap funding for what will be a high-profile project? “I don’t think we need massive financing and as such the market situation is very difficult for that,” said Tauber.

“But we have the complete support of the main shareholders and that is what we have been doing to support and finalise the projects we have.

There are different fin-ancing tools to do it, but at the end of the day it’s funding from the shareholders that makes it possible.”

A privately owned enterprise, Tameer has a “strategic” partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Investment Group.

Apart from Tameer Towers, the developer is not taking on any other projects. Tauber is quite emphatic on that point.

“While the market has improved gradually, I don’t see any dramatic changes taking place in the 12 months,” the president added. “There’s not much of a huge motivation to roll out brand new projects.”

Tauber is also eschewing another traditional mode that local developers have used to diversify their revenue stream – by setting up captive facilities management companies for their developments.

“As I have said our shareholders are providing the funds to complete the projects we are engaged in and there is no pressure on us to what I call an artificial revenue stream,” he added.

“While I cannot go into specifics, I can easily say that we have the capital to meet all our immediate requirements.”

Funding is being put to good use for five projects in Dubai. The 31-storey Silver Tower, for commercial tenants, is complete and comes with all the approvals and clearances from the relevant agencies.

Between now and April next, Tameer’s portfolio of completed projects will straddle everything from a low-rise structure in International City to the Princess Tower in Dubai Marina, which at 107 storeys will be one of the tallest residential structures in the world.

“Apart from Princess, we also have the Elite Tower in Dubai Marina scheduled for delivery in March,” said Tauber.

“Of the inventory we have in these two towers, they are selling well at the offered price of Dh950 a square foot. Being on the first line from the sea and with the views they give out, we never thought we need a massive marketing push to get buyers interested… even in the present state.

Focus

“Dubai Marina has its own market and one of the locations investors have consistently focussed on.”

With a New Year beckoning, what would he rate as the biggest difference from the same time last year? “We will start 2012 with completed and imminent deliveries to be made and that’s the confidence we will be taking forward,” he said.

“In the past a developer’s differential was his land bank. Now it is achieved through delivery — it should be the case for every developer but hasn’t been the case.

“As we enter 2012, the issues are quite clear; we know where the customers are and there are no more surprises.”

By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor