Dubai: Show homes of the exclusive gated villa community in Meydan City should be ready for a sales launch at next year's World Cup, the developer said Wednesday.
"The rationale behind driving the project forward is that we need to move on despite all the bad influences in the market," Mohammad Abdullah Al Hathboor, project development manager for Meydan, told Gulf News.
"There are niche opportunities. For example, a shortage of contemporary style villas with generous plots," he added.
The gated villa community close to Meydan's Grandstand deep into Nad Al Sheba on the Emirates Road side will include 187 units ranging from 7,000 to 9,000 square feet for three and four bedrooms.
Three different styles have been designed. The villas will be built in a joint venture with G & Co. Meydan will be in charge of infrastructure and G & Co of the villas. Show villas are expected to be completed in time for World Cup 2011 at the end of March.
Sales
"People don't want to buy paper but see the property, the quality, etc. They want transparency. So we ideally want to have the show homes ready to start selling," Al Hathboor added.
Residents will get a secure community with a clubhouse, pools, health facilities and a neighbourhood centre supermarket, nursery, etc. This is phase one, phase two will include the terrace villas, he added.
"We are very ambitious but don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We're looking for end users as customers, not speculators," said Al Hathboor. He couldn't confirm the prices as the final drawings and construction tenders were still being worked out, but said with sales prices in general having come down, the properties would be priced competitively.
The community will be built in phases, with first villa completions expected by the end of next year, maybe a little sooner, said Al Hathboor. "We completed the Grandstand on time and wouldn't want to jeopardise our credibility," he added.
Meydan, in the meantime, is finalising the launch of the free zone office-licensing programme to register the companies, which will operate in the city.
"We will be able to start serving companies by year end. We especially want to attract those related to the equine industry, but everyone is welcome to set up as long as it is not industrial," Al Hathboor said.
The free zone takes in the Metropolis Business Park, where phase one will be handed over to Emirates NBD in the first quarter of next year. The second phase will be ready by the third quarter of 2011, Al Hathboor said.
By Nicole Walter Senior Reporter© Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
