City of Arabia shows shape of things to come in Dubai

With round-the-clock construction work entering a new phase, City of Arabia owners, the Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group, commissioned a new range of artist's impressions which put the project and each of its four main elements perfectly into perspective.

City of Arabia will have a phased opening starting towards the end of 2010, beginning with Mall of Arabia, one of the world's largest shopping destinations, which will have a gross leasable area (GLA) of 10 million sq ft over two phases.

With workers onsite casting approximately 60 pile caps per week on the 20 million sq ft site beside the Emirates Road, the mall is rapidly taking shape. Construction work is also moving quickly ahead on Wadi Walk, City of Arabia's vibrant waterfront community characterised by stylish apartments, outdoor cafes and attractive retail outlets set beside a meandering eight kilometre canal.

And construction work has now commenced on I&M Tower, Metro Tower and Wadi Tower, the first three of the high-rise commercial and residential buildings which will create a dramatic skyline for City of Arabia.

Mall of Arabia will offer more than 1,400 diverse retail outlets, and the first phase is already 89% contracted and reserved. It will also feature a rooftop hotel, waterfront alfresco dining and entertainment for all the family, as well as the remarkable Restless Planet theme park and earth science museum.

Housing the world's largest and most lifelike collection of animatronic dinosaurs, Restless Planet will make visitors think they've wandered onto the set of a Stephen Spielberg Jurassic Park blockbuster. One design team member, Dr. Jack Horner, served as scientific consultant to Spielberg on three "Jurassic Park" movies, and Restless Planet will take visitors 100 million years back in time on a dramatic theme ride into the prehistoric world.

Ilyas Galadari, Chairman of Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group, said:

"With each of the four main elements of City of Arabia now reaching important stages, we wanted to give all our stakeholders a detailed picture of what they can expect when the project is completed, and the new images do that perfectly."

Mustafa Galadari, the Group's Vice Chairman and Managing Director, added, "Construction work is continuing to go full steam ahead, and major visible progress is now particularly evident at Mall of Arabia, which is a very exciting development in its own right."

The Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group also has interests in real estate, agencies for overseas companies, gems and jewellery, automobiles and transport and food distribution, as well as an expanding luxury yacht division, Sunseeker Middle East, which enjoyed a highly successful appearance at the recent Dubai International Boat Show.

City of Arabia, which will become home for 40,000 people, will be a vibrant, self-contained urban community, with business and administrative offices, schools and clinics, supported by luxury apartments, shops, galleries, restaurants and unique attractions.