New Palm Pointe shows Nakheel going for return-on-investment
Posted on 11 January 2012 with no comments from readers
The spectacular new Palm Pointe retail and leisure walk was unveiled today to be built on the tip of the Palm Jumeriah and open by the end of 2013.
Gone are the days of grandeur for Nakheel. Palm Pointe is a no nonsense project costing less than $100 million with a high return-on-investment.
Cash flow
‘We are looking for a cash return,’ said chairman Ali Rashid Lootah at the launch of the scheme that comprises restaurants, cafe and retail in a double crescent quayside setting. There will be 1,200 car parking spaces and a Palm Monorail station serving the car park at the start of the Palm and Atlantis Hotel.
Retail investors were invited to the same presentation unveiling the project as the press. They seemed to like it. The Palm has 30,000 wealthy residents and many hotels.
Mr Lootah says he will have no trouble in financing the project despite only reaching a final settlement with the banks last August over previous massive debts from the Dubai real estate crash. Doubtless the banks will like the returns available on this relatively simple construction project with many high-value tenants.
Nakheel will be the owner of the retail complex by the sea with 75 shops and 125 restaurants and cafes, and make its money from rental income. There was little other news about Nakheel projects, although Mr Lootah did say that 60 per cent of the new space on the second phase of the Dragon Mart is already leased.
New promenade
A new seafront promenade will certainly be welcome to Dubai residents. The nearby Jumeriah Beach Walk has been a great success though Nakheel appears to be aiming a little more upmarket with Palm Pointe.
Officials said the business atmosphere in Dubai this year is transformed with money flowing in from Arab Spring countries and nobody wanting to invest in the eurozone right now.
