Mixed-use developments have become an essential component in contemporary urban planning. Indeed, as one of the ten elements of what has become known as the “smart growth” strategy, the mixed-use description is used for any development designed and constructed to serve the economy, the community, public health and the environment.
For a city such as Jordan’s capital Amman, which has experienced episodic bursts of rapid growth over the last 50 years, much of it unconstrained by zoning or masterplanning, mixed-use developments are also considered key to regenerating an urban core neglected during these tectonic shifts.
Abdali, a district that bridges the older, more congested “East” Amman and the modern, more affluent “West”, is home to the country’s most conspicuous and certainly most ambitious mixed-used development.
Billed as “the new downtown”, the majority of Phase 1 of Al Abdali was completed in 2015, and was home to a pedestrianised hub called The Boulevard as well as facilities such as hotels, boutique retail outlets, office space, residential units, a large mall and a hospital.
Since its launch, Al Abdali has over 18 million annual visits, 1,200 hotel rooms, 8,000 employees, 720 residential units and approximately 500 businesses (international, regional and national). Al Abdali has been shaped into a vibrant lifestyle destination with an active community.
Of course, like every public-facing entity, Covid tore right through this progress. It didn’t simply cost us footfall, it challenged our very reason for existing. The sense of community we had created, the interactions we inspired, were instantly undone by protracted lockdowns, remote working and the sharp rise in e-commerce.
The physical had been usurped by the virtual – and there was argument the shift might be permanent.
More than a year later, though, it’s clear that the pandemic has also highlighted our innate human need for community and real-world interaction. As the restrictions eased, it has been encouraging how people have been drawn back to places like Al Abdali, even if the numbers are still to rival 2019.
The challenge for landlords and developers of mixed-used developments now is to continue to make the case to both these returning customers and the tenants who provide the magnets for them.
For customers, it’s essential we earn their confidence by providing the optimum health and safety measures. On our most popular outdoor pedestrian friendly walkway, The Boulevard, for instance, we have a dedicated and separate from the municipality sanitisation team and added security to enforce crowd control, appropriate mask wearing and temperature taking.
In a city with limited pedestrian spaces, Al Abdali must be seen to be providing a healthy escape consistent with government regulations.
Going forward, we need to continue implementing a safe space to celebrate the being together again by revisiting how to best bring together our community with new events and our already popular annual ones like Ramadan, Christmas and the Winter celebrations.
As for our tenants, the challenge wasn’t simply about facilities management and sterilisation, as important as those remain. It was about restating our case as a destination that can enable their businesses to flourish in a post-Covid world.
During the pandemic, we supported the retail outlets in a number of ways, including eliminating rent charges during the forced lockdown and reductions during curfews and other restrictions. As a result, we actually saw a significant rise in tenancies and renewals as our centralised services were able to uphold all government regulations, removing a significant administrative burden.
The usual pre-pandemic benefits of state-of-the-art fibre optics network and the only district heating and cooling system in Jordan also ensured business continuity.
Taking this further, we have now created an entirely new department dedicated to developer affairs, which assists with company registrations, licensing, meeting municipality requirements and setting up utilities. Developers also have free support with sales, leasing and rentals through the new department.
In this new environment, decision-makers and stakeholders needed to be proactive, quick and flexible to keep up with the fast-paced changes that impact our tenants – the old fashion, prolonged processes no longer apply.
This mentality also needed to become part of our own corporate culture; the community of our office, our team’s mental health and family obligations all became a higher priority. The added flexibility in turn benefitted the organisation with increased loyalty, productivity and efficiency; we had to breakdown the traditional mindset that dictate the “correct” way of working.
Another benefit of Covid was it bringing to light the importance of having the right kind of “mix” in a mixed-use development, one in which community members can live, conduct all their business and fulfil social engagements in a single location. It also emphasised the benefit of having an onsite advanced medical facility, Abdali Medical Centre.
Looking forward and planning the land use of Phase 2, we have made some considerations as a result of the pandemic. We will be maximising outdoor pedestrian paths, walkways and green space.
Jordan, as a developing country, has a long way to go in offering government support and implementations of going green but we are exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprint, efficient means to become more sustainable, reduce food waste.
His Excellency Amer Al Fayez, president and chairman of the board of directors for Al Abdali Investment Development (AID)
by Staff Writer
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His Excellency Amer Al Fayez, president and chairman of the board of directors for Al Abdali Investment Development (AID)
Mixed-use developments have become an essential component in contemporary urban planning. Indeed, as one of the ten elements of what has become known as the “smart growth” strategy, the mixed-use description is used for any development designed and constructed to serve the economy, the community, public health and the environment.
For a city such as Jordan’s capital Amman, which has experienced episodic bursts of rapid growth over the last 50 years, much of it unconstrained by zoning or masterplanning, mixed-use developments are also considered key to regenerating an urban core neglected during these tectonic shifts.
Abdali, a district that bridges the older, more congested “East” Amman and the modern, more affluent “West”, is home to the country’s most conspicuous and certainly most ambitious mixed-used development.
Billed as “the new downtown”, the majority of Phase 1 of Al Abdali was completed in 2015, and was home to a pedestrianised hub called The Boulevard as well as facilities such as hotels, boutique retail outlets, office space, residential units, a large mall and a hospital.
Since its launch, Al Abdali has over 18 million annual visits, 1,200 hotel rooms, 8,000 employees, 720 residential units and approximately 500 businesses (international, regional and national). Al Abdali has been shaped into a vibrant lifestyle destination with an active community.
Of course, like every public-facing entity, Covid tore right through this progress. It didn’t simply cost us footfall, it challenged our very reason for existing. The sense of community we had created, the interactions we inspired, were instantly undone by protracted lockdowns, remote working and the sharp rise in e-commerce.
The physical had been usurped by the virtual – and there was argument the shift might be permanent.
More than a year later, though, it’s clear that the pandemic has also highlighted our innate human need for community and real-world interaction. As the restrictions eased, it has been encouraging how people have been drawn back to places like Al Abdali, even if the numbers are still to rival 2019.
The challenge for landlords and developers of mixed-used developments now is to continue to make the case to both these returning customers and the tenants who provide the magnets for them.
For customers, it’s essential we earn their confidence by providing the optimum health and safety measures. On our most popular outdoor pedestrian friendly walkway, The Boulevard, for instance, we have a dedicated and separate from the municipality sanitisation team and added security to enforce crowd control, appropriate mask wearing and temperature taking.
In a city with limited pedestrian spaces, Al Abdali must be seen to be providing a healthy escape consistent with government regulations.
Going forward, we need to continue implementing a safe space to celebrate the being together again by revisiting how to best bring together our community with new events and our already popular annual ones like Ramadan, Christmas and the Winter celebrations.
As for our tenants, the challenge wasn’t simply about facilities management and sterilisation, as important as those remain. It was about restating our case as a destination that can enable their businesses to flourish in a post-Covid world.
During the pandemic, we supported the retail outlets in a number of ways, including eliminating rent charges during the forced lockdown and reductions during curfews and other restrictions. As a result, we actually saw a significant rise in tenancies and renewals as our centralised services were able to uphold all government regulations, removing a significant administrative burden.
The usual pre-pandemic benefits of state-of-the-art fibre optics network and the only district heating and cooling system in Jordan also ensured business continuity.
Taking this further, we have now created an entirely new department dedicated to developer affairs, which assists with company registrations, licensing, meeting municipality requirements and setting up utilities. Developers also have free support with sales, leasing and rentals through the new department.
In this new environment, decision-makers and stakeholders needed to be proactive, quick and flexible to keep up with the fast-paced changes that impact our tenants – the old fashion, prolonged processes no longer apply.
This mentality also needed to become part of our own corporate culture; the community of our office, our team’s mental health and family obligations all became a higher priority. The added flexibility in turn benefitted the organisation with increased loyalty, productivity and efficiency; we had to breakdown the traditional mindset that dictate the “correct” way of working.
Another benefit of Covid was it bringing to light the importance of having the right kind of “mix” in a mixed-use development, one in which community members can live, conduct all their business and fulfil social engagements in a single location. It also emphasised the benefit of having an onsite advanced medical facility, Abdali Medical Centre.
Looking forward and planning the land use of Phase 2, we have made some considerations as a result of the pandemic. We will be maximising outdoor pedestrian paths, walkways and green space.
Jordan, as a developing country, has a long way to go in offering government support and implementations of going green but we are exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprint, efficient means to become more sustainable, reduce food waste.
His Excellency Amer Al Fayez, president and chairman of the board of directors for Al Abdali Investment Development (AID)
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