WadiOnline News - Zaya Eyes Dubai Tower Redesign

Zaya eyes Dubai tower redesign

Publish Date: 2010-02-09 00:00:10 Story Code: 25118

Nurai by Zaya

� Cut down last year from 67 to 49 villas
� 20 per cent of buyers ended their contracts for homes
� Prices originally ranged from Dh55 million (US$14.9m) to Dh100m
� Annual maintenance fees ranged between Dh180,000 and Dh250,000
� Project is 45 per cent complete
� 25 villas expected to be delivered in December

Zaya, the high-end property developer, is eyeing a distressed project in Dubai to buy and redesign into a luxury residential tower.

If the deal goes through, it will be among the first transactions in the emirate where a better capitalised company took over another company�s project.

Analysts have said that such deals will emerge as the property market bottoms out.

Nadia Zaal, the chief executive of Zaya, said her company was examining an undisclosed project in Dubai to turn it into an apartment tower with as many as 90 units.

�I still truly believe in the real estate market in Dubai,� Ms Zaal said.

�You still have people who love it there and want a home there. As overdeveloped as people think it to be, there is demand in Dubai for high-quality, beautiful homes.�

She said acquisitions of distressed assets would be complex because there were still buyers from the old project who would need refunds, and architects would have to work with the structure already built to come up with a new design.

Zaya, a venture between Ms Zaal and Tasameem Real Estate of Abu Dhabi, is exploring more deals in which it would develop and manage projects on behalf of other companies. Ms Zaal said Zaya was in talks with a �financial institution� about developing a plot on Abu Dhabi island.

�They own the land and they would put up the funds, while we would do the research, feasibility plans and project management,� she said. �We would take a fee and a percentage of profits. This model is normal in the US and � we want to do more projects like this.�

Zaya is also in discussions with an investor in India about developing a resort near Goa. The projects would come nearly two years after the original launch of Nurai at Cityscape Abu Dhabi in 2008.

Nurai, located on an island just off the tip of Saadiyat Island, will have 49 homes, a hotel and a Cafe del Mar nightclub built on the island�s breakwater.

About 20 per cent of the original buyers defaulted on their payments, leading Ms Zaal to cut the project down to its current size from 67 villas.

At prices originally ranging from Dh55 million (US$14.9m) to Dh100m, and annual maintenance fees between Dh180,000 and Dh250,000, the Nurai estates and villas were among the most expensive homes in Abu Dhabi. About half of the 49 homes are still for sale.

�We realised that it would be better to reduce it in size and get it finished quickly,� she said.

�Our priority is making sure the sold units are delivered on time.�

The overall project is about 45 per cent complete, with infrastructure in place and construction under way on half of the villas. Those homes are scheduled to be delivered in December, with the rest being completed six months later. �We�re not in any rush to sell the remainder of the units,� Ms Zaal said.

�When you are paying that kind of money, you only have one chance with people � We are concentrating on construction now.�

The all-day restaurant on Nurai would also start a service selling picnic lunches to �the yachting traffic�, Ms Zaal said.

© The National 2010. All rights reserved.

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Source: The National
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