Pearl Dubai buys Dh100m private island

Angela Giuffrida

• Last Updated: October 23. 2008 8:49PM UAE / October 23. 2008 4:49PM GMT

Dubai Pearl has paid $27.2m for an island on The World. Courtesy Nakheel

Residents of Dubai Pearl will now be a boat trip away from their own private beach after the developer, Pearl Dubai, bought an island at Nakheel’s The World development.

The company paid US$27.2 million (Dh100m) for Archangel, a 1.6 million square foot island close to Siberia and is located in the north of the 300-island development. Pearl Dubai will spend another Dh800m building on it.

A significant part of the island will be for the exclusive use of residents at Dubai Pearl, the company’s Dh15 billion project under construction opposite Palm Jumeirah. While Dubai Pearl will include a mix of hotels and apartment buildings, the one thing it lacks is a beach.

“Pearl Dubai is supporting its clients with a beach at The World,” said Abdul Majeed al Fahim, the chairman of Pearl Dubai, which is a consortium of investors led by Al Fahim Group.

“We will keep one section of the island for private development, while the other four will be for the residents. It will be like an exclusive beach, so people can feel the freedom of being there without any harassment.”

With a Dh1bn partnership deal already in place with the French crystal company Baccarat for the Baccarat Hotel and Residences at Dubai Pearl, the developer is continuing to pursue investors in the luxury end of the market, despite some local firms moving their offerings downmarket because of changing conditions.

An apartment at Baccarat Residences is being sold for about Dh6,000 per sq ft.

“It’s not just about saying your building is ‘luxury’, it’s about what you provide. We’re very selective,” Mr Fahim said.

Earlier this month, DIFC Investments, the investment arm of the Dubai International Financial Centre, put more than Dh3bn into the Dubai Pearl project. The company will develop office and residential buildings. More outside investors are expected to follow.

agiuffrida@thenational.ae