Plans for a US$3 billion (Dh11.01bn) MGM Resorts-branded hotel and entertainment complex in Abu Dhabi's Mina Zayed are under review, says the developer behind the project.
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The review calls into question the fate of the broader Mina Zayed development, after Abu Dhabi's media hub, twofour54, last November shelved plans to build a campus there.The waterfront resort was to include hotels, with an MGM Grand property as the centrepiece, an indoor arena and a convention centre. MGM Resorts, a hospitality company based in Las Vegas, and Mubadala Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, first announced plans for the project in 2007. Mina Zayed was selected as the location for the resort complex the following year.
"The [MGM] project is still being reviewed," Mubadala said yesterday. "Any material developments will be announced in due course."
The hotels and attractions were planned as part of the 60-hectare Mina Zayed waterfront redevelopment, which has been described as a major part of Abu Dhabi's tourism ambitions. Construction work was scheduled to start in 2009, with phase one of the master plan due to open next year.
Plans for other elements of the project, such as a superyacht marina, are still being finalised.
"The marina project at Mina Zayed has undergone feasibility studies, including the development of initial concepts for the site," Mubadala said.
Speaking about the Abu Dhabi market as a whole, analysts said several projects were likely to come under review as supply and demand was assessed.
"What we will see this year is a tendency for there being a review of projects in terms of scale and their use mix, and we would expect there to be further consolidation of projects over the next year," said David Dudley, the head of the Abu Dhabi office at Jones Lang LaSalle, Middle East and North Africa.
Last year, twofour54 said it had chosen another location for its planned expansion.
Three years ago, Mubadala said the MGM development was to have 1,000 hotel rooms and suites, including an MGM Grand resort as well as properties under its Skylofts and Signature brands.
"There will be approximately 400 hotel residences and 500 waterfront apartments which shall be made available to investors, with exclusive access to hotel services, facilities and private yacht berths," Mubadala said at the time.
The first phase of the development was to include the entertainment and convention districts, with the 600-room MGM Grand Abu Dhabi hotel, convention centre and arena on a 16ha plot at Mina Zayed, according to the original masterplan.
MGM Resorts declined to comment on the project.
Several luxury hotels are scheduled to open in Abu Dhabi this year, including a Hyatt hotel in the leaning Capital Gate building, as well as Jumeirah Group's first hotel in the emirate, a Ritz-Carlton property, and the Park Hyatt and St Regis resorts on Saadiyat Island.
Several hotel projects have suffered delays as occupancy levels and room rates suffered sharp declines last year following an increase in supply.
MGM plans to manage hotels under its MGM Grand, Bellagio and Skylofts brands as part of the $4bn Dubai Pearl development near the Palm Jumeriah. The multibillion CityCenter project, jointly owned by MGM Resorts and a subsidiary of Dubai World, opened in December 2009 in depressed market conditions in Las Vegas. Dubai World, through its subsidiary Infinity World, bought a 9.5 per cent stake in the company in 2007, which has since been diluted to about 5.3 per cent as MGM Resorts has issued more shares.
