Leading business park master developer focuses on infrastructure development, asset enhancement and new projects for 2015, in addition to exploring further residential product offerings to enhance communities

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Sunday, September 21st 2014 [ME NewsWire]

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.

During a press conference, TECOM Investments set out the organisation’s priorities for the coming year, and underlined that a key driver for the master developer is in realising the vision of Dubai’s leadership and continuing to contribute to the growth of the knowledge economy.

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.”

Mr Al Gargawi continued: “As the market has evolved, so has our product offering and the way in which we have adjusted our focus. Enabling the growth of communities and their enhancement is a significant priority for us and we are actively seeking investors who will become partners in developing the retail, residential and hospitality products that will support our core offering.”  

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 sq. ft. 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.”

Al Gargawi stated that TECOM Investments prides itself on the delivery of quality products, in line with market need, and that its intelligent approach to master planning and development is what serves to differentiate the company in an increasingly crowded market.

He said: “What is key for the continued growth of all our business parks is to nurture their next phase of development into viable, self-sustaining ecosystems. While some of this growth will occur organically, intelligent master planning and strategic development have a big part to play. Dubai is a city no longer in its infancy and future strategies for developers across the Emirate should take this into account as urban maturation brings its own unique challenges. Business hubs now need to take a more holistic view of what they are providing to the market, evolving and adapting their offer to meet the needs of the customer.”

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 square feet in the heart of Dubai, is on track and set to be delivered to 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 optimise the ultilisation 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.

ABOUT TECOM INVESTMENTS

TECOM Investments, a member of Dubai Holding, is an established master developer and operator of world class industry-focused business parks with an asset rich portfolio, including a substantial land bank, and a successful track record. TECOM’s business parks currently provide a home in the Gulf to over 4,500 companies, from major multinationals to local start-ups and small firms.

TECOM’s free zone business parks, which feature purpose built facilities and industry specific infrastructure, include: Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone, together forming an ICT Cluster; Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and the International Media Production Zone, which make up a Media Cluster; Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, combining to create an Education Cluster; and DuBiotech and ENPARK, which comprise the Science Cluster.

Dubai Industrial City is TECOM’s non-free zone business park dedicated to the manufacturing and logistics industry. Spread across 55 square kilometers (560 million square feet), Dubai Industrial City is the second largest non-real estate project in Dubai.

Dubai Design District, better known as d3, is a purpose-built community dedicated to promoting and nurturing emerging local talent, while also providing a creative home to established international design, luxury and fashion brands. d3 is the newest of TECOM Investments’ free zone business parks with 10 buildings currently under construction; Phase I is due to launch in Q1 2015.

For more information please visit www.tecom.ae

Contacts
Alexa Hooft Graafland
AHooftGraafland@bell-pottinger.com
+9715-555-97404

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