The Dubai developer Limitless is to restart construction of its first apartment block at The Galleries in Downtown Jebel Ali.
The developer said yesterday it would resume work on the construction of 323 flats for lease which it stopped developing in 2010 following the global financial crisis, leaving the block 70 per cent finished.
Limitless, which is owned by the Dubai Government, said it had signed an agreement with its sister company Nakheel to resume work on the 30-storey tower as confidence returned to the emirate's property market after the 2008 property crash.
It declined to say exactly what the agreement between the two companies covered.
Limitless said it expected work on the tower of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, and five penthouses, to be completed by the first three months of 2015.
Work on a second Galleries residential tower and two further office towers was also expected to resume in “due course”, the developer added.
The news comes just weeks after Nakheel said it would restart work on part of its stalled Palm Deira project, which was originally intended to be the largest of the developer’s three palm-shaped islands.
“The Galleries is already an established, thriving business community, and we are seeing more and more demand for residential accommodation there too,” said Ibrahim Al Fardan, the managing director of Limitless.
The company has completed work on four of the planned eight buildings at its ambitious Galleries project, which was valued at Dh70 billion when launched in 2006.
The scheme was designed to form the focal point of the developer’s Downtown Jebel Ali project and is designed to comprise four zones, each with its own shops, hotels, offices and apartment buildings connected by a light-rail service.
Both Limitless and Nakheel were transferred from the Dubai conglomerate Dubai World to direct ownership by the emirate’s Government in 2011 in the wake of the Dubai World crisis.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
