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The following article has been published on Gulf News stating the remaining hotels in Palm Jumeirah will be launched soon. This is good news.

The masterplan of Palm Jumeirah as envisioned in 2001 is now taking shape with more hotels and residences opening up. Image Credit: AFP Dubai: In 2008, Atlantis, The Palm, became the first hotel to open on the Palm Jumeirah. The opening came in the middle of the global recession, but Atlantis enjoyed the first mover advantage. This year, though, it is getting company with six more hotels opening on the Crescent.

It promises to be the busiest time for hotel openings on the Palm yet. One of the new properties is Atlantis owner Sol Kerzner's One&Only Palm Jumeirah.

Pointing to the success of the One&Only Royal Mirage and Atlantis, The Palm, Kerzner said he believed in the government's continuous commitment to developing tourism in the region. "Combined with all the destination has to offer, its constant innovation and its easy international access make this the perfect place for us to expand the One&Only portfolio."

"We're confident that we'll meet the date. The completion from the outset was planned to be around this time. We have 1,700 workers on-site and experienced no delays," said Michael Payne, general manager at the One & Only The Palm.

The other four confirmed hotels coming up on the Crescent this year are the Kempinski Emerald Palace Hotel and Residences, The Royal Amwaj Resort and Spa by Moevenpick, Zabeel Saray, Jumeirah Al Fattan Palm Resort Hotel and Residences and Grandeur Residences — Taj Exotica Resort and Spa by ETA Star.

A Nakheel spokesperson said: "Palm Jumeirah is set to become one of the world's premier resorts, with a number of top brand-name beachfront hotels represented on the island. This year we look forward to the opening of further hotels which are set to further enhance Palm Jumeirah's offerings."

The Palm Jumeirah's website says around 30 hotels are expected to open on the island.

Whilst economic circumstances have kept one or two hotels on the drawing board, most of those under construction have plodded on. At least three hotels will open next year, including the Moevenpick Oceana Resort and Spa and Tiara by Zabeel and the Al Habtoor Island Resort and Spa on the Crescent.

In 2012, the Sofitel Hotel and Resort is expected to open on one the Palm's fronds. The Fairmont Palm Hotel on the trunk is also not far from completion.

In the pipeline

luxury offerings

Hotels under planning, development and construction

The Fairmont Palm Hotel & Resort
Essque Hotel & Spa
Trump International Hotel & Tower
Jumeirah Al Fattan Palm Resort
Grandeur Residences
Kempinski Hotel
Emerald Palace
Kingdom of Sheba
The Royal Amwaj
Taj Exotica Resort & Spa
Oceana Hotel & Spa

The Palm represents virtually everything that is wrong with Dubai. The fake glitz and glamour, the excess materialism (the Atlantis launch party comes to mind). It is also an enviromental hazard, posing a threat to the marine life around it.

I don't see why anyone should be excited about it.

>:(

Lets fill the empty rooms first before they start building another hotel.

Over-ca-pa-city is rampant. Dubai just had a buidling boom and bust for crying out loud.
A well, the prices should come down ever faster with more inventory. Two cheers for affordability.

The Habtoor are almost giving away the room

Two scary things about the Palm Jumeirah:

1- The landfill is reported to be slowly sinking.

2- There is only one access road for the thousands of people who live in all the housing units, and for the large number of employees and guests of the various hotels.

When PJ is ALL full, imagine the morning and evening rush hours, or the unthinkable chaos in case of any emergency evacuation!!!

Tom Jones wrote:Two scary things about the Palm Jumeirah:

1- The landfill is reported to be slowly sinking.

2- There is only one access road for the thousands of people who live in all the housing units, and for the large number of employees and guests of the various hotels.

When PJ is ALL full, imagine the morning and evening rush hours, or the unthinkable chaos in case of any emergency evacuation!!!

It wouldn't matter as I understand the emergency services cannot get down the roads on the fronds anyway!

I see it from the air regularly and there is still a massive amount that has not been developed yet (apparently due to poor foundations) and many of the villas are definitely unoccupied.



Knight

Would be the first time that the water didn't reclaim what belongs to her. Trust me, I come from a place with experience. Without money and heavy maintenance, the project is doomed

Well don't know if completion of these properties is good or bad...nevertheless...check out this link for photographs of all these upcoming properties...

http://earsplease.blogspot.com/2010/02/ ... -palm.html

Cheers
Immo

Dubai Knight wrote:

Tom Jones wrote:Two scary things about the Palm Jumeirah:

1- The landfill is reported to be slowly sinking.

2- There is only one access road for the thousands of people who live in all the housing units, and for the large number of employees and guests of the various hotels.

When PJ is ALL full, imagine the morning and evening rush hours, or the unthinkable chaos in case of any emergency evacuation!!!

It wouldn't matter as I understand the emergency services cannot get down the roads on the fronds anyway!

I see it from the air regularly and there is still a massive amount that has not been developed yet (apparently due to poor foundations) and many of the villas are definitely unoccupied.



Knight

Why couldn't the Emergency Services get down the Fronds?.

Fronds G, H, I, J & N are still to be completed, basic infrastructure is installed balance to follow.

There is so much supply coming into the market coupled with liquidity still being tight, I really wonder how the premium segment like the Palm will sustain in the near term.

Don't forget that the sentiment is still very very negative. Somehow some of the statements coming out recently remind me of the bravado preceding the crisis.

DPS wrote:There is so much supply coming into the market coupled with liquidity still being tight, I really wonder how the premium segment like the Palm will sustain in the near term.

Don't forget that the sentiment is still very very negative. Somehow some of the statements coming out recently remind me of the bravado preceding the crisis.

Yes, some of the statements about the palm are quite optomistic (100% gain in a few years), but with the other 2 palms having been cancelled, Palm Jumeirah becomes once again unique and exclusive.
I'd sleep easy if I owned something there, well not if I bought it 2 years ago, but with the limited area to build on, which is almost saturated, it can't get much worse.

Palm says:

sage & onion wrote:
Why couldn't the Emergency Services get down the Fronds?.

Fronds G, H, I, J & N are still to be completed, basic infrastructure is installed balance to follow.

Apparently they increased the number of residences from the original master plan (profiteering) and reduced the road width and turning circles at the ends of the fronds to such a degree that the support water tankers for the Civil Defense fire department can now not turn around. Nakheel have had to provide specially modified vehicles on permanent standby in case of fire in one of the frond residences.

This also applies to DM waste collection vehicles I hear. There was an initial plan to provide all houses with garbage compactors and have the waste removed by barge. Not sure if this has been implemented. Smaller garbage trucks are easier and cheaper.



Knight

As far as I am aware their is Fire Hydrant system, which would mean the tankers were not necessary.

Garbage trucks could certainly tuen at the turning circles, well at least with a reasonable driver. I doubt whether the Garbage Compacters were ever installed.

benwj wrote:Yes, some of the statements about the palm are quite optomistic (100% gain in a few years), but with the other 2 palms having been cancelled, Palm Jumeirah becomes once again unique and exclusive.
I'd sleep easy if I owned something there, well not if I bought it 2 years ago, but with the limited area to build on, which is almost saturated, it can't get much worse.

Got you agree with you, the logic is sound!

Besides land reclamation is here to stay. The ME did'nt pioneer it, it was done by many long before Dubai did.
And so far *touchwood* no catastrophe has occurred.
Personally I would never stay on an island where access is so limited just like how I would never be comfortable in a building greater than 30 storeys.
Coming back to economics you never know what the future holds, and from a marketers perspective the potential is tremendous. That said to sustain such grandiose Dubai will have to create wealth as opposed to merely luring in investors. Only then will such a project be a long term success.

By Zainab Fattah and Anthony DiPaola

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Nakheel PJSC, the Dubai World construction unit that received state cash to pay contractors and suppliers, may face an even greater challenge in deciding which of its planned projects to cancel.

In March, the company said it was evaluating its portfolio to identify “essential projects.” Nakheel will decide what buildings will be completed at the end of the restructuring process, a spokeswoman who declined to be named said by telephone yesterday.

The company that developed palm-shaped islands off Dubai’s coast is restructuring $10.5 billion of debt and has asked trade creditors to wait five years to receive full payment after falling behind on its bills. The Dubai government in March pledged to pump $8 billion in cash into Nakheel to help it pay contractors and suppliers and complete planned developments. Its unrealized plans include residential islands shaped like a world map and a coastal development that would be twice the size of Hong Kong Island.

“They have to finish the projects they started and probably the working capital support has already come from the government,” Saud Masud, a Dubai-based analyst at UBS AG, said of Nakheel’s development plans. “I’d be surprised if they didn’t postpone most of the large projects that haven’t started or downscale them significantly.”

Dubai World, the state-owned holding company that includes Nakheel among its construction, hotel and shipping assets, yesterday reached an agreement with its main creditor group to restructure $23.5 billion of liabilities. The agreement includes extending repayment dates and converting loans into equity.

Boost to Lending
“It will improve banks’ books and will help boost lending sooner than otherwise,” Majed Azzam, a real-estate analyst at Al-Futtaim HC Securities, said of the debt accord. “It will have a knock-on effect on property. Banks may now be more comfortable to lend to contractors and developers.”

Nakheel has already indicated that some of its developments won’t be built. The company in March said it will offer finished properties or securities to customers who purchased units in developments that won’t be completed. Its website still contains descriptions of planned or incomplete projects including two more palm islands and Dubai Waterfront, which could accommodate almost all of Dubai’s current population.

Nakheel is “optimistic” that it will reach a settlement with trade creditors, it said in a statement May 18 after a meeting with the Contractors’ Association of the United Arab Emirates. More than 50 percent of Nakheel’s trade creditors have accepted the debt deal it presented, the company said May 13.

Paying the Bills
The company said in March that trade creditors’ claims would be honored in full -- 40 percent through a cash payment and the rest through a publicly tradable security. At least 65 percent of businesses that worked for Nakheel need to accept the proposal in order to get the cash payment and 95 percent have to agree to get the security.

Arabtec Holding PJSC, the biggest construction company in the U.A.E., agreed with Nakheel on payment of the property company’s overdue bills, Chief Executive Officer Riad Kamal said yesterday.
“For people to regain some of the confidence they’ve lost in Dubai, Nakheel needs to show some progress” in restructuring its borrowings and paying its debt to contractors, said Omar Taha, an equities analyst at Beltone Financial in Cairo. “We don’t see any quick recovery in the property market.”

Bondholders
The Dubai government said in March that Nakheel’s existing bondholders would be paid in full if the company’s debt plan is accepted. Bank creditors will be asked to restructure their loans to the company at commercial rates. Nakheel has $750 million in bonds due in 2011, according to Bloomberg data. The company paid almost $5 billion in Islamic debt, or sukuk, in December and May with cash provided by the Abu Dhabi and Dubai governments.

“Dubai is not where I’d want to be in the long-term since debt issues are still prevalent and given the oversupply in real estate,” Beltone’s Taha said. “It makes more sense for Nakheel to be looking at what kind cash stream they have and what kind of return they can make on projects already under way.”

--With reporting by Arif Sharif and Dana El Baltaji in Dubai. Editors: Ross Larsen, Andrew Blackman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai on zfattah@bloomberg.net; Anthony DiPaola in Dubai at adipaola@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net; Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-0 ... -deal.html

End of the road for Dubai...
“Dubai is not where I’d want to be in the long-term since debt issues are still prevalent and given the oversupply in real estate,” Beltone’s Taha said.

herve wrote:End of the road for Dubai...

real estate wise...

G to tha T wrote:

herve wrote:End of the road for Dubai...

real estate wise...

True, it will remain a playground for golddiggers and gangsters. lol

RobbyG wrote:

G to tha T wrote:

herve wrote:End of the road for Dubai...

real estate wise...

True, it will remain a playground for golddiggers and gangsters. lol

and prostitutes.

That also.

even though I'm not a great fan of the so called think tanks / experts, but couldn't resist the
dream to reality to nightmare journey..
dream for me though/..as I'm thinking a renting out a sea facing 2 BR apartment for 110k..

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/588831-p ... think-tank

Palm Jumeirah prices to fall 20% - Think Tank
by Anil Bhoyrul on Sunday, 23 May 2010

Business leaders are predicting that prices on the Palm Jumeirah will plummet another 20 percent in the next year.

A special gathering of the Arabian Business Think Tank (ABTT) – comprising nine senior business figures – has forecast that average prices for an apartment on Nakheel's man-made island will fall to just AED1,022 per square foot by May 2011.

The ABTT estimated that current average prices in the area are AED1,200 per square foot – compared to a peak of AED3,000 per square foot in summer 2008.

ABTT members cited concerns of oversupply in the market, and continued unwillingness by banks to approve new mortgages.

The ABTT comprises Kanoo Group deputy chairman Mishal Kanoo; OMG Mena Region CEO Elie Khouri; Fairmont regional vice president Philip Barnes; Gulf Research Centre chief economist Eckart Woertz; Arabtec CFO Ziad Makhzoumi; Colliers International Regional CEO John Davis, Asda’a Burson-Marsteller Sunil John; Crescent Investments CEO Badr Jafr and ITP Executive managing director Karam Awad.

At a lunch last week hosted by ITP chairman Andrew Neil, the ABTT also set out predictions on the value of regional stock markets, gold prices and the strength of the euro.

Landmark Advisory said last month that increased supply of residential units in some of Dubai's most popular areas forced further rent declines in April.

The property company's April 2010 Dubai Lease Guide said the likes of Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina, which have performed better than other parts of the emirate during the past six months, have seen recent drops of up to six percent.

Landmark Advisory said average rents for a two-bed apartment on Palm Jumeirah had fallen from AED120,000 to AED115,000 a year, a drop of four percent.