The developer of one of the most ambitious projects on Dubai’s The World Islands, will finally be handing over the long-awaited private villas and beach palaces to investors before the end of the year.

Some 2,000 units in the Phase I of the $5 billion Heart of Europe, an ultra-luxury man-made island destination that will showcase floating homes, as well as the Middle East version of the famed French Riviera, will be turned over in December 2020, Kleindiesnt Group announced on Monday.

“We are ready to handover residential units to homeowners so that they can fit out the interiors. This reflects our strong commitment to the investors and as they start taking over. I am also excited to announce that we have started construction of the Phase II of the project – and plan to complete the development of the island by 2022,” said Josef Kleindienst, chairman of Kleindienst Group.

A spokesperson told Zawya that the properties ready for handover include five hotels, some floating villas, as well as beach palaces on Sweden Island and villas on Germany Island.

The developer considers the turnover an achievement in itself, considering that it had earlier made the commitment to complete the first phase of the project just shortly before the coronavirus pandemic gripped the world and sent billions of people in lockdown.

“At that time, we were not fully aware of the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic and its magnitude. However, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were determined to go ahead with our planned development and as the lockdown was announced in March, we shifted our entire team to the Heart of Europe islands and continued to construct. During the lockdown, we were isolated from the mainland and confined to the island and focused on construction,” recalled Kleindienst.

Luxury islands

About four kilometres off the Jumeirah coast of Dubai, the Heart of Europe includes the development of inter-connected six islands that will feature a total of 4,000 units spread across 15 hotels and resorts.

The developer said they are getting ready to commercially open more than 1,500 hospitality units in five hotels and resorts when the situation “normalises” and international visitors start coming in again.

The construction of St. Tropez, one of the hotels being developed that will deliver 200 rooms and recreate the ambience and charms of the popular French Riviera town, is also almost complete and has reached the “rooftop level”. The hotel is slated for completion along with other developments in Phase I, including the upscale beachfront Cote d’Azur Resort, Portofino Hotel and other residential units, in 2020 and 2021.

Kleindienst also said the recent announcement of the COVID-19 vaccine is encouraging and raises hopes of a recovery in tourism demand prior to Dubai’s hosting of the World Expo next year.

“If most people are vaccinated in the first half of 2021, we will open the world-class leisure destination to local, regional and international tourists ahead of the Expo 2020 that starts in October 2021,” he added.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)

Cleofe.maceda@refinitiv.com

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