Meraas Holding has confirmed it will open the first phase of its La Mer beachfront resort in the Jumeirah area of Dubai next Sunday, 15 October.

The 13.4 million square foot resort has been built on reclaimed land in the Jumeirah 1 area of the city, next to the Dubai Marine Beach Club resort.

The three linked areas - La Mer South, La Mer North and The Wharf. La Mer North and La Mer South will open first and will contain 130 shops, cafes and restaurants.

The Wharf, an area containing a cinema, cafes and restaurants, will open early next year, Meraas said in a statement on Wednesday. A hotel and a new residential community will be opened at a later stage.

In the statement, Abdulla Al Habbai, group chairman at Meraas, was quoted as saying: “La Mer is the seventh destination delivered by Meraas in the past three years, following City Walk, The Beach, Boxpark, Last Exit, The Outlet Village and Al Seef.”

Meraas said that the resort will contain several food and beverage concepts that are new to the region, including a number of licensed restaurants. It will also feature a ‘Hawa Hawa’ - a new air-filled trampoline concept that was first created and installed in public parks in Japan.

Work on La Mer began in late 2014. It has been built by main contractor Al Futtaim Carillion under a £155 million ($204.5 million) contract announced in February 2015. The work included redeveloping existing beaches to include showers, toilets with baby changing facilities and disabled access, free Wi-Fi, information hubs, mobile charging, prayer rooms, four children’s playground areas and more than 1,000 parking spaces.

It also involved preserving all of the corals that are unique to the area, with some of them being replanted by divers.

The opening of La Mer follows on from last month’s opening of the first phase of the Marsa Al Seef resort on the Dubai creekside.

© ZAWYA 2017