Emaar not to build world's tallest tower in Saudi Arabia?
Posted on 14 June 2009 with no comments from readers
Emaar Properties has denied a press release from Kingdom Holding which said the Middle East’s leading property developer had signed a joint venture to build the world’s tallest tower in Jeddah with Kingdom Holding Company acting on behalf of the Jeddah Economic Company.
The Dubai company was to supervise the construction of the Jeddah Kingdom City and Kingdom Tower, set to soar over 1,000 metres. A press statement yesterday said Emaar was selected by Kingdom Holding from five other international developers for its previous experience in the development of mega projects and local knowledge.
Topping the Burj Dubai
Emaar is the developer of the Burj Dubai, currently the tallest building in the world at 818-metres, and would therefore have been surpassing its own best achievement in Jeddah.
But we will now have to await clarification for what appears to have been a premature press announcement which admittedly failed to give key contractual details like a timeframe or estimated cost.
In October last year, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques unveiled and inaugurated the two colossal projects of Kingdom City in Jeddah and Kingdom Tower in Jeddah.
Talk then was of a mile-high or 1,600-metre high tower, and plans may have been scaled back since then. Kingdom Tower is part of the Kingdom City development which will be one of the largest and most comprehensive real estate projects to be built in Saudi Arabia located at Obhur, north of the creek of Jeddah and the mountains to the east.
Master planning
The master plan encompasses 5.3 square kilometres, and Kingdom City in Jeddah is 20 kilometres from the old city of Jeddah near King Abdulaziz International Airport. The built up area comprises 23 million square metres.
The centerpiece of the development will be the landmark Kingdom Tower. The tower will rise from a large retail and conference centre podium and include five-star hotels, offices and luxury residences with dramatic, sweeping views of the Red Sea, Obhur Creek and the mountains to the east.
Essentially triangular in plan, Kingdom Tower is conceived as a graceful, sculptural form that reflects not only the character of Jeddah but also the sky, water, and land from its taut glass skin.
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Will the “Tall Tower Curse” spell doom for the Saudi economy?
I admire Paul’s optimism! Burj Dubai spells doom only for real estate greedy flippers! I bought properties there long time ago with a long vision and I’m doing some nice cash!
This press release from Kingdom is apparently completely incorrect, presumably they have not actually signed a deal but Kingdom would like to do so? There is of course an enormous difference, but you have to wonder how any company could release such news if it is incorrect, are there no internal approval processes in place for such PR?
As stated in Gulf News today:
15 June 2009
Dubai: Emaar Properties on Monday issued a denial that it had made any deal with Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company on developing the world’s tallest tower with a total investment of at least 100 billion riyals ($26.7 billion).
Kingdom Holding, owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Saturday in an emailed statement that Emaar would be in charge of developing and supervising the construction of the Kingdom Tower.
The news saw a surge in Emaar’s shares rise up to to 7.8 per cent.
In a statement issued to Reuters, the Dubai based properties said that it will not invest in any projects of this sort.
Emaar is currently constructing the world’s tallest tower, Burj Dubai, in the emirate – a regional trade and tourism hub.
More confusion on this – it appears Emaar will get a fee for managing the project, this is from Bloomberg.com:
By Vivian Salama
June 15 (Bloomberg) — Emaar Properties PJSC fell the most in a week after the United Arab Emirates’ biggest developer said it will receive a fee for building the world’s tallest skyscraper in Saudi Arabia and won’t make an investment.
The shares declined 2.9 percent to 4.06 dirhams at 11:22 a.m. in Dubai. Emaar is still up 80 percent since the beginning of the year.
Kingdom Holding Co. said June 13 it selected the Dubai- based company to build Kingdom Tower in a 100 billion-riyal ($26.6 billion) real-estate project. Emaar said today it will manage the construction of the Jeddah-based project and not invest in it.
“There is definitely some confusion and I would expect Emaar to be off today with this news,” said Bobby Sarkar, an analyst with Al Mal Capital PSC. “These stocks have gone up so much on little to no news lately so it is to be expected that this would trigger a bit of a drop.”
Officials from Emaar wouldn’t comment when Bloomberg News asked to further clarify details of the Saudi project. No one was available for comment at Kingdom when contacted by Bloomberg today.
Well, however the situation is surely they are getting the attention they were looking for! Is affecting share prices and economy in general.. a simple press release! Prince AlWaleed doesn’t do things for the sake of doing them, he is a born strategist.. see how this develops in time, i’m confident it will go his way!