Damac unveil hotel apartments for Dubai Expo site

Arabian Business staff writer, December 16th, 2013

The first luxury serviced hotel apartments near the World Expo 2020 site have gone on sale, developer Damac Properties said on Sunday.

Apartments in the 10-storey, 270 unit tower at Dubai World Central, called Tenora, start from AED610,000 ($166,000). They are due to be completed in Q2 2015 to serve Dubai’s new international airport, Al Maktoum, as well as workers at the Expo site.

The hotel, which also includes a cafe and luxury spa, will be managed by the developer’s hospitality division, Damac Maison.

Damac senior vice president Niall McLoughlin said: “Tenora is designed specifically to support the influx of people to the Dubai World Central area of Dubai – not only during the exhibition itself, but also the many thousands of people who will be working on the project in the lead up to the event.”

“TENORA is a prime project, in a prime location with the personal service traditionally experienced only in the very best hotels in the world,” McLoughlin said.

“This is the first opportunity to own part of Dubai’s future with Expo 2020 a reality which will drive not only Dubai forward, but the whole region.”

Dubai won the bid to host the 2020 World Expo in November. The international extravaganza is expected to create significant construction at and near DWC.

Damac has announced several major projects in Dubai this year, including the Akoya by Damac master development and a joint-venture mixed-use development with Paramount Pictures.

Last week it was announced Damac lost a bid to develop a $270m villa and golf course project at DWC, with the project being awarded to Emaar Properties.

The company’s recent launch on the London Stock Exchange helped it raise $348m, while the share price valued the company at $2.65bn.

It was the first Dubai property developer to list in London and analysts said the lacklustre response – Damac had hoped to raise $500m – showed it may have been too early to test the Dubai real estate market, which is still recovering from a 60 percent slump in 2009.