Dubai 'party island' to open New Year's Eve 2010

The Kleindienst Group is due to start construction on the second of six of their islands on The World and is planning to have it open in time for New Year’s Eve 2010, the company said on Thursday.

Monte Carlo is a 415,000 square foot manmade Island that will contain a beach and pool club, a fine dining restaurant and bar, a nightclub and a dedicated event area for private parties, weddings and corporate events.

Launched at the Dubai International Boat Show, the island is being aimed at the yachting fraternity and has been “designed as a party island,” with access to the club restricted to adults only.

Monte Carlo Island is the second island to be launched in The Heart of Europe project. Germany island was announced in late December 2009 and construction of the 20-villa project began on schedule in February 2010.

Construction on Monte Carlo Island will begin within the next few weeks and is scheduled to open before the end of the year.

“We look forward to seeing in the New Year in true Monte Carlo style, bringing The Heart of Europe to life and celebrating The World’s first exclusive party island,” Josef Kleindienst, CEO of Kleindienst Group.

The Heart of Europe development consists of six islands on The World, an archipelago of 300 manmade islands built in the shape of a map of the world and located 4km off the Dubai coast.

Earlier this year, Kleindienst told Arabian Business that he was eager to start construction on the islands while the construction costs were still low.

“Before crisis, construction companies didn’t even want to go out and touch these islands for below AED2000 per square foot. Now we can have the same work for AED500 per square foot,” he said.

Kleindienst originally purchased eight islands for the ‘Heart of Europe’ project, but decided to merge three of these into one large city centre style complex. Four of the islands will have villas and the fifth will contain the retail and office elements.

The entire project is spread over the islands of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, St Petersburg and Sweden and, similar to Aquitania, there will be six themed areas named after the European destinations of Belgium, Geneva, Luxembourg, Monte Carlo, Poland and Sochi.