Nakheel to sell hotel plots for Deira Islands
Nakheel has announced plans to launch on Sunday more than 12.4 million square feet of prime land at Deira Islands, its new 15.3 square kilometre waterfront city.
The master developer is releasing its first phase of plots - ranging from 50,000 to 670,000 square feet - for hotel and resort development on two of the four islands that make up the project.
Nakheel said in a statement that 94 first phase plots are available, with special payment plans for investors in hotel and resort projects.
The two islands will ultimately add over 23,000 hotel keys and 31,000 apartment keys to Dubai's hospitality and residential landscape.
Deira Islands, which will add 21km of beachfront to Dubai's coastline, will play a key role in the emirate's target to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2020.
It is one of a number of Nakheel projects underway in the run up to Expo 2020, which is expected to attract more than 25 million people, the company said, adding that it will release more land for sale soon.
In total, more than 500 plots will be available across the two islands.
Nakheel said it is also developing a significant amount of the 4.5 million square metres south island, creating a creekside destination, easily accessible from the mainland by road bridges and abras.
The island's host of attractions will include a large shopping mall; an Arabic souk-style night market, a 250-room hotel, an amphitheatre for 30,000 people and a marina that can accommodate large yachts.
All four Deira Islands will feature hotels, resorts and residential, commercial and retail units. Nakheel will master plan and complete infrastructure work ready for third party development on each island. The developer also plans to build five hotels of its own at Deira Islands.
Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: "We are honoured and proud to play our part in realising Dubai's vision for 2020. Nakheel has already delivered some of the world's most famous landmark developments - including Palm Jumeirah and The World - that have helped to place Dubai firmly on the map.
"Now, by applying the innovative design and engineering that we are known for, we are creating Deira Islands, yet another world-class, waterfront wonder that will further cement Dubai as a global tourism, retail and business hub and contribute significantly to the emirate's economy for decades to come."
Separately, Lootah said Nakheel is a targeting a 15 percent increase in annual profit in 2014 as it launches new projects and expands its leasing income.
Government-run Nakheel agreed a $16 billion debt restructuring in 2011 in the wake of a property crash that sent Dubai's house prices tumbling by more than half from a 2008 peak, oversupply and the global financial crisis ending years of fervent speculation.
Yet the emirate's real sector is resurgent, with rental and sales prices rebounding, and this helped Nakheel make an annual profit of AED2.57 billion ($699.70 million) in 2013, up 27 percent from a year earlier.
"Our profit will be better (higher) than last year - we are targeting 15 percent growth (in profit)," Lootah told reporters in Dubai.