In The News : 2005

2009  |   2008  |   2007  |   2006  |   2005  |   2004  |   2003  |   2002  |   2001  |   1999  |  

$2.5B Dubai Festival City a 'city within a city'

April 1, 2005
This article also appears on another site: Shopping Centers Today

When Al-Futtaim Group unveiled plans for its massive Dubai Festival City in 2001, it promised a “city within a city.” As the 70 million-square-foot project progresses, it appears that the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based development firm is living up to its mission.

Dubai Festival City comprises so many elements it is hard to know where to begin describing it. The $2.5 billion, 1,600-acre project, located on the Arabian Gulf, will contain about 2 million square feet of retail, 19,000 residences, office and hotel space, and a marina, all of it along the northeast bank of the man-made Dubai Creek.

“We’re building a downtown, with neighborhoods and villages,” said Philip McArthur, CSM, Dubai Festival City’s director of leasing and marketing.

Overall, the project’s 70 million square feet will include several retail centers and an automotive park. The Ras Al Khor Bridge, now under construction, will feed directly into Dubai Festival City, and the existing Al Garhoud Bridge is nearby too.

The developers expect to be finished with the entire complex sometime in 2012. A town house community with a golf course opened last year as the development’s very first element, and residential build-out is to continue in phases through 2008.

Retail fusion

Retail construction began in June, and the heart and soul of Dubai Festival City may well be the $700 million Festival Centre, which combines traditional mall stores, big boxes and restaurants along the 2.5-mile waterfront.

“We’ve been calling it a fusion center,” McArthur said.

The first retail phase, the 1.1 million-square-foot Retail Park, is the region’s first big-box development. Anchoring that will be a 280,000-square-foot Ikea, the largest in the Middle East. An atrium will link Ikea to a hypermarket (still unnamed at press time), and the two are scheduled to open in September. The smaller tenants, including Ace Hardware and some home furnishings stores, will follow next April.

A three-level, enclosed mall, also spanning 1.1 million square feet, constitutes the final retail phase. The Crescent, as the mall is called, is slated to open in September of next year and will house about 300 retailers, including anchor Marks & Spencer, a 40,000-square-foot Paris Gallery perfume emporium and a 40,000-square-foot Aishti department store (“the Saks Fifth Avenue of Beirut,” according to McArthur). Gap, Mothercare World and Nike will be among its smaller tenants. The Boulevard, a street-front development with 20 of the internationally known stores typically found on the grand shopping boulevards of Europe, will attach to the Crescent.

Open-air entertainment will be an important part of the project too. Four waterfront pavilions will offer 100 shops and kiosks in four themes: Celebrate Food, Kid’s Town, Maritime Experience and Trade Routes. Canal Walk, connecting to the waterfront promenade, will contain 40 waterside cafés and restaurants. Visitors can even get to the shops and cafés by water taxi.

Festival Square, a waterside performance space spanning between 40,000 and 50,000 square feet, will function much as a traditional mall center court, “but it will be four times the proportion,” McArthur said. “I see it being used for community events.” He equates the space to Rome’s Spanish Steps, where people gather simply to watch other people.

To help shoppers stay cool, an air-conditioned walkway will connect the Festival Centre and the Retail Park, and they will have 12,000 parking spaces, 6,500 of them underground.

The InterContinental Hotel, with 370 rooms, 80 executive apartments, and retail of its own, is nearby and the Four Seasons will open a 250-room hotel and spa within a mile of the site.

Even the project’s multicolored, circular logo reflects the complex’s various uses. It “shows a meeting of the land and water, sand and sun, of life’s possibilities,” McArthur said.

City on the rise

In time, about 77,000 people will be living and working at Dubai Festival City, the developer says. To accommodate families, many of whom will be expatriates, Al-Futtaim is building school facilities, and those are scheduled to open this year.

According to Al-Futtaim, Dubai Festival City is the largest privately funded, mixed-use waterfront development in the Middle East. It is far from the only development in Dubai, though.

According to Al-Futtaim, Dubai’s population, now 1.2 million, is growing at about 8 percent annually, with GDP per capita averaging about $19,000. The developers believe their basic trade area extends to the greater region, however.

“The economy is booming,” said McArthur. “The other factor is tourism. Business travel and vacationers have been growing at 15 percent per annum. The five-star hotels are jammed.”

Dubai’s rulers have been carefully promoting the city as a beach resort to most of the Middle East, as well as Africa, Europe and India. The city could get as many as 10 million visitors a year by 2010. Dubai Festival City is located just over a mile from Dubai International Airport, which is being expanded rapidly to accommodate travelers from around the globe.

Which helps to explain the development frenzy.

“Who knows? It’s an extraordinary place,” said Simon Thomson, the principal partner of Retail International, a London-based shopping center consulting firm that specializes in the Gulf region. “If you look back 30, 40 or 50 years, you’d see development projects where people would have said you were crazy. But the place seems to succeed.”

Related Images

Dubai Rendering

Grosvenor Acquires the River Retail Center
Nov 17, 2005
Grosvenor, the UK-based international property developer...has acquired the River, a 227,550-sf outdoor lifestyle center By Bob Howard

A Would-Be Las Vegas Rolls the Dice
Nov 4, 2005
The 1,100-member Morongo tribe, which had already built a spacious casino, envisioned something even grander...the tribal leaders hired the Jerde Partnership By DENNY LEE

Las Vegas Central Final Plans Approved By Clark County
Nov 2, 2005
This is a press release issued by Las Vegas Central developer Langson Development.

I-City Selangor - the making of an icon
Oct 24, 2005
This article contains excerpts from an interview with I-Berhad's CEO Eu Hong Chew and American architect Jon A. Jerde on the I-City Selangor.

I-Berhad Looks West To Make I-City Come Alive In Shah Alam
Oct 10, 2005
I-Berhad is looking west to bring the best in developing its 21st century urban centre known as "I-City" in Shah Alam, Selangor. by Umi Hani Sharani

Developers bet $4b on Macau projects
Oct 4, 2005
Hong Kong-listed Cheuk Nang (Holdings) and Macau Success, together with their business partners, will invest a combined HK$4 billion in property and tourism projects in Macau, hoping to gain from the city's fast- growing economy. by Vanson SooandWong Ka-chun

I-Berhad to build ICT township in Shah Alam
Oct 3, 2005
The Selangor Government has endorsed I-Berhad’s ambitious plan to build an information and communications technology (ICT) township in Shah Alam, the state capital. by Rupinder Singh

Jerde input in ICT hub set to draw attention from afar
Sep 26, 2005
I-BHD has engaged world renowned architect Jon A. Jerde of the Jerde Partnership to plan and design its 72-acre freehold development site in Section 7, Shah Alam, into a state-of-the-art information and communications technology (ICT) urban centre. by Angie Ng

World-renowned architect to design I-Berhad project
Sep 20, 2005
I-BERHAD has appointed world-renowned The Jerde Partnership to plan and design its 29.2ha freehold development site in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Harvey Nichols to open store in Istanbul
Sep 17, 2005
English lifestyle store Harvey Nichols CEO Joseph Wan: We will change the concept of shopping in Turkey

Morongo Casino Resort becomes a bright desert oasis...
Aug 18, 2005
Morongo Casino Resort and Spa rises from the California desert like a rock formation stretching skyward... By William Weathersby, Jr.

Jerde's Horton Plaza Turns 20 yrs. old - Destination: Downtown
Aug 14, 2005
20 years later, architect Jon Jerde explains his vision that became Horton Plaza by Ann Jarmusch

20 years of Horton Plaza
Aug 8, 2005
Tomorrow marks 20 years since the opening of Horton Plaza, an experiment aimed at revitalizing downtown San Diego.

Rebellious center celebrates two decades...
Aug 8, 2005
Its open-air, lopsided design (four stories on one side, three on the other), crazy catwalks and 48-color paint scheme broke every rule about what a shopping mall should be... By Molly Wofford

Farewell Comrade, Greetings Consumer
Aug 1, 2005
Outside investors help Poland erase bleak Soviet retail model with latest shopping center concepts - Jerde's Zlote Tarasy featured By Curt Hazlett

The Pain and Pleasure of Creating Horton Plaza
Aug 1, 2005
A look back on the creation of Horton Plaza as the project celebrates its 20th anniversary cover story by Timothy J. McClain

Wynn-ovation
Jul 1, 2005
Theming is out; residential style is in. Wynn Las Vegas introduces city chic to the neon jungle. By Mary Scoviak, Features Editor

Market Makes Itself the Center of Attention
Jun 20, 2005
World Market Center's opening statement is a bold one in a city where outside the Strip - the architecture has too often been driven by developers and their bottom lines.

Dubai Festival City on Target to Open 'Retail Resort'
Jun 19, 2005
To help create this distinct urban retail resort, Dubai Festival City has rekindled its relationship with original masterplan architects, Jerde Partnership...

Wrestling Star Hulk Hogan Purchases Penthouse at Palms Place
Jun 9, 2005
Hogan claims of Palms Casino Resort, "I fell in love with the place...there's no other place like it in Vegas." from Palms press release

Morongo Casino Resort & Spa Receives Engineering Award
May 16, 2005
Morongo's Port Cochere initial concept and geometry of Desert Bloom structure developed by The Jerde Partnership as series of overlapping, truncated double-curved surfaces that…spiral outward

ULI Gives Hangzhou 2005 Awards for Excellence: Asia-Pacific
May 16, 2005
Urban Land Institute Announces Five Winners for the 2005 Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific Competition in Shanghai during ULI Study Tour of China source: ULI press release

ULI Announces 9 Finalists for the 2005 Awards for Excellence
May 5, 2005
Jerde's La Cittadella selected in 'Asia Pacific' competition - Winners to be announced during ceremony in May in Shanghai, China

Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson Purchase Condo at Palms
Apr 27, 2005
Palms press release announces that the stars of MTV's "Newlyweds" reality show have purchased a luxury condo at Palms Place, which is scheduled to open in 2007.

L.A.'s Jerde Partnership Names CEO
Apr 26, 2005
Los Angeles architect Jon Jerde has appointed a chief executive for his firm, Jerde Partnership. by Roger Vincent

Iconic architecture anticipated
Apr 19, 2005
Singapore has recently announced the approval for two Integrated Resorts, which will house the country’s first casinos, amongst other entertainment venues. Several investors have roped in some of the world’s most renowned architects, in the hope that their proposal would generate more enthusiasm and excitement. Radio interview with Rita Soh, President of the Singapore Institute of Architects by Jack Yong

Snapshot of 12-acre urban village at SDSU
Apr 19, 2005
Project EIR provides a snapshot of 12-acre urban village at SDSU by Kirsten Green

Big SDSU project one step closer
Apr 17, 2005
The SDSU Foundation is proposing to bulldoze the hodgepodge of restaurants and stores on campus and build an urban village with 280,000 square feet of commercial space By Lisa Petrillo

Gaylord, landlord-developer go global
Apr 17, 2005
Resort wants $105M incentive deal to triple meeting space, add 500 rooms. by Bob Mervine

Iconic Design Required
Apr 16, 2005
Jerde among top architects vying to design Sentosa Island resort for Harrah's By Glenys Sim

Namba Parks ULI Development Case Study
Apr 8, 2005
Namba Parks offers green space atop an eight-level assemblage of 108 shops and restaurants arranged to form an indoor-outdoor urban retail and entertainment complex visually anchored by a 30-floor office tower. David Takesuye, report author Jason Scully, editor, Development Case Studies David James Rose, copy editor Joanne Nanez, online production manager

Top architects gear up for resort battle
Apr 3, 2005
World-renowned names in the running to design project by Alexandra Ho

$2.5B Dubai Festival City a 'city within a city'
Apr 1, 2005
Dubai Festival City comprises so many elements it is hard to know where to begin describing it. The $2.5 billion, 1,600-acre project, located on the Arabian Gulf, will contain about 2 million square feet of retail, 19,000 residences, office and hotel space, and a marina, all of it along the northeast bank of the man-made Dubai Creek. by Debra Hazel

World Market Center - Las Vegas - To Expand By 60 Percent
Apr 1, 2005
World Market Center announced plans for an expanded campus comprising 12 million square feet of permanent and temporary showrooms, dedicated to all segments of the home furnishings and hospitality contract industries.

Palms joins vertical condo crowd
Mar 7, 2005
The Palms Casino Resort is joining the rapidly-growing high-rise condominium crowd. by Tony Illia

Entryway experience
Mar 4, 2005
For the Morongo complex, geometric forms serve vital functions. by Richard K. De

Palms casino in Las Vegas announces plans for condo tower
Mar 3, 2005
A vertical trend in southern Nevada casino development is getting another boost, with the Palms hotel-casino announcing plans to build a 50-story condominium tower. (Associated Press)

Palms plans condo-hotel tower
Mar 3, 2005
Not satisfied with expanding hotel rooms at the Palms resort, owner George Maloof has announced plans to build a 520-foot hotel-condominium tower behind the property to capitalize on the recent popularity of high-rise residences in Las Vegas. by Liz Benston

Tribe's new Palm Springs casino aims to be hipster magnet
Mar 2, 2005
The casino's ultramodern design - the hotel rooms have a silhouette-revealing opaque glass window between the shower and the bedroom - sets it apart from other tribal casinos in California, which are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation. by Christine Binkley

Golden Terraces
Mar 1, 2005
A mixed-use development incorporating numerous unique and innovative features, Zlote Tarasy is set to transform the centre of Warsaw.

Developers in Las Vegas Put Money on Furniture
Feb 23, 2005
World Market Center is an attempt to establish Las Vegas as a leading national center of furniture wholesaling to merchants and developers. by Morris Newman

Builder sees condo as 'destiny'
Feb 5, 2005
Langson believes project near convention center will `make difference' by Hubble Smith

Casino-related uses are cited as being vital for the city
Feb 2, 2005
Experts say nongambling entertainment is needed to attract large numbers and bring in more money. by Nathan Gorenstein

Experts say Philly must include other development with casinos
Feb 2, 2005
Architects, business and tourism experts discuss gaming options for Philadelphia at a forum organized by the Central Philadelphia Development Corp. by Associated Press

Indian Casinos Up the Ante on Vegas
Jan 31, 2005
Southland facilities are adding luxury hotel rooms and upgrading facilities to snag gambling dollars headed to Nevada. by Seema Mehta

A Young Taipei Finds its Groove
Jan 23, 2005
Change is a constant in the city [Taipei], the capital of Taiwan, which has been transformed significantly... by Andrew Yang

Winning Namba
Jan 10, 2005
Read what else Hing Magazine has to say about Namba's curves...

Architecture: China's Great Leap Forward
Jan 2, 2005
Hurtling forward, the nation reimagines itself by importing design from around the world by Mark Magnier

Profile: Gold Medal Winner Jon A. Jerde, FAIA
Jan 1, 2005
Profile: Gold Medal Winner Jon A. Jerde, FAIA, LA Architect, January/February 2005.