Emaar to add luxury apartments, hotel to Dubai Mall

Emaar Properties, Dubai’s largest property developer, said it will expand Dubai Mall to include luxury homes, serviced residences and a new hotel as part of its 1m sq ft expansion.

The developer, which in February announced plans to expand the world’s largest mall, will also add a shopping boulevard lined with restaurants and water attractions.

The sale of the residential units, which will feature direct access to the new shopping boulevard as well as views of The Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa, will launch soon, the developer said in a statement Thursday.

“With the mall expansion to feature a modern hotel, luxury homes and serviced residences, designed to the world-class standards associated with Emaar, we are further contributing to strengthening Dubai’s powerful growth drivers - the tourism, retail, hospitality and business environments,” said Ahmad Al Matrooshi, managing director, Emaar Properties.

Emaar said it had completed the masterplan for the extension and expected construction work to begin soon.

Dubai Mall, which boasts 1,200 retail stores and 160 food and beverage outlets, was the world’s most visited shopping and leisure destination last year. Over 54m shoppers visited the mall between January and September, up 15 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

Dubai, home to some of the world’s glitziest shopping malls and an indoor ski slope, has staged something of a recovery this year, partly due a tourism and retail boom. Tourist arrivals increased 10 percent and hotel revenue 19 percent in the first half of the year.

Retail accounts for around 30 percent of GDP in the emirate, according to Standard Chartered estimates. Dubai is home to about 40 shopping malls.

Emaar last week said it would cooperate with Dubai Holding to build a new tourism and leisure development in the emirate, which will include an even bigger mall. Mohammed bin Rashid City will feature a retail complex 'Mall of the World' and more than 100 hotels able to accommodate up to 80m visitors a year.

“The current facilities available in Dubai need to be scaled up in line with the future ambitions for the city,” Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said in a statement. Dubai aims to become a business and cultural capital for 2bn people in the surrounding region, he added.

The emirate also announced this week it had approved plans for a AED10bn (US$2.7bn) entertainment and leisure development to the south of Dubai in Jebel Ali, which will include five theme parks.