Dubai Sports City powers towards completion

Completion is nearing on the ICC Global Cricket Academy, WorldHockey Academy and Butch Harmon School of Golf, as well as the Football, Swimming and Rugby Academies; and all will begin offering programs and courses in 2009.

International sporting events are also scheduled to take place at the cricket and hockey stadia in the first half of 2009 with construction work having progressed significantly through the past 12 months.

And residents are about to start moving into the first phase of luxury homes at Victory Heights, the residential villa development which runs around the Els Club golf course - which was inaugurated in January 2008.

Khalid Al Zarooni said:

"2008 was a huge year of accomplishment for us, as we reached some major milestones and moved aggressively toward completion in our development phase. Once we actually open the academies, start hosting international events and begin welcoming residents into Dubai Sports City - all of which will happen in 2009 - that will be the surest sign of our success."

DSC reported a strong market response to the development's commercial real estate options, and Khalid Al Zarooni predicts 2009 will be an even bigger year.

"About 80% of our sub-developers are under construction, and the master development's infrastructure and utilities are built and operational," he said.

On the residential side, Dubai Sports City released the Andalusian-style residence of Canal Residence West which captures traditional Moorish architecture and offer residents a unique waterfront living experience. 2008 also saw the release of Gateway Towers, a signature commercial project at Dubai Sports City.

On the retail front, Dubai Sports City secured the world's second largest retailer, Carrefour, to anchor its Arena Mall with a 136,000 square foot hypermarket.

"We have tied up with some of the biggest international brands like Carrefour and the International Cricket Council. It is testimony of the market's confidence in the potential for the project, and people will soon be experiencing all Dubai Sports City has to offer," added Khalid Al Zarooni.

Dubai Sports City, is a $4bn, 50 million square feet mixed-use development which will be the world's first integrated purpose-built sports city.