TECOM Investments Outlines Expansion At Cityscape Global

TECOM Investments, the master developer of Dubai’s leading industry-focused business parks, today invited investors to explore the many exciting opportunities across the retail, residential and hospitality sectors within its portfolio. TECOM Investments also outlined the enhancements planned for its existing business parks, provided a progress update on the key developments scheduled for release in 2015, and reaffirmed its commitment to support Dubai’s ongoing economic growth and development.

Badr Al Gargawi, CEO Development & Planning at TECOM Investments, said: “TECOM Investments was born from the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, to turn the Emirate into a knowledge economy with the announcement of Dubai Internet City in 1999. 15 years and 11 thriving business parks later, we remain fully committed to this vision and focused on developing it further by continuing to master plan and deliver a portfolio of successful business parks.”

To support the drive for investment across retail, residential and hospitality, new land plots will be released within and adjacent to TECOM Investments’ business parks in 2015, offering opportunities for local, regional and global investors in prime locations.

The strategic focus for TECOM Investments’ business parks in 2015 is to both enhance the existing offering for its business partners, and to release more office space onto the market, particularly in well connected, growth locations. Overall, TECOM Investments is developing 1 million sqft of additional office space, spread out across its business parks. These initiatives represent an overall investment of AED 1.5 billion.

TECOM Investments has pioneered the concept of community development to support its thriving free zone business parks. The company’s prime locations of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village are examples of this, with a 37,000 strong workforce benefiting from a mix of hospitality, retail, and commercial products. TECOM Investments plans to replicate this approach across its other business parks.

In addition, Dubai Industrial City, which is a strategic location for TECOM Investments due to its close proximity to Dubai World Central and the planned Expo 2020 site, will see additional infrastructure development and the diversification of its product offering within the site.

Mr Al Gargawi also provided an update on the recent launch of Villa Lantana, a freehold community of 440 contemporary family villas in Dubai’s new growth corridor of Al Barsha South. He commented:

“The construction of Villa Lantana, due for completion in the last quarter of 2015, is on track. Sales since the launch have been robust and exceeded our expectations. They have largely been driven by local and regional investors, with a key driver being TECOM Investments’ reputation for robust planning, quality construction, timely project delivery, and most importantly, knowing the needs of the end user.”

TECOM Investments also confirmed that construction of Dubai Design District, D3, the region’s first master planned hub for design and fashion excellence, which covers a total area of 21 million sqft in the heart of Dubai, is on track and set to be delivered on schedule. D3’s first project of 11 buildings of innovative office and retail space, located just minutes from Dubai’s Downtown area, will be released in the first quarter of 2015. TECOM Investments reported that the development cost of this first phase is AED 4 billion. 

Mr Al Gargawi, in discussing delivery of D3’s master plan, which was revealed ahead of Cityscape, said: “Key to the design of D3’s master plan was accommodating a broad spectrum of end users. We have achieved this by providing a real mix of land uses with a range of plot sizes. Another essential component was to optimize the utilization of existing and planned infrastructure, to ensure full integration with the surrounding areas, and to create a low-rise, pedestrian friendly scaled environment, which is unusual for Dubai, and adds another point of differentiation to the project. We have also included an abundance of public facilities and open spaces, to ensure a positive experience and a high quality of life for all those who will live, work and play there, including visitors and tourists.”

D3 will include a 1.8km Waterfront featuring design-led, luxury and boutique hotels, unique retail outlets, and stylish dining and entertainment venues. The site will provide capacity for 10,000 office workers, a creative community for up to 4,000 designers and innovators, as well as over 4,000 luxury and boutique hotel rooms. D3 has been designed to offer an environment built for creative people, by creative people.