ALKHOBAR, 11 March 2004 — In one of the biggest property sales ever in the Eastern Province, a total of 17 plots on Alkhobar Corniche fetched SR350 million on Tuesday evening.
The auctioning of the plots, totaling approximately 98,000 square meters, was organized by Al-Oula Towers for Development at Al-Seef Hall in Alkhobar. It was the biggest auction of real estate in the region, said Musleh Al-Shamranny, owner of a real estate firm in Dammam.
The 17 plots are on the sea side of Alkhobar Corniche, west of Prince Turki ibn Abdul Aziz Street.
The location is considered to be prime real estate in the Eastern Province. In close vicinity to the area are Le Gulf Meridien Hotel, Abdulla Fouad Center and a food court.
The well-attended auction took almost three hours to sell all of the plots. Real estate agents and property developers admitted that some were sold for exorbitant prices.
Most plots were sold in the range of SR5,000 to SR7,000 per square meter, except for plot No. 12 which is being retained by Al-Oula Towers at a cost of SR145 million.
According to the auctioneers, Al-Oula is open to sell this plot if any bidders offer a higher price.
It is still not known that who the actual buyers are as most of the bidding was done by brokers.
But real estate sources say that some of the big business houses have vied to purchase a piece of this prized land.
The auctioned plots will site future commercial centers as well as hotels and residential complexes.
There has been a real estate boom in the Eastern Province for the past two years and the entire skyline of Alkhobar has changed.
The Eastern Province has now emerged as the nerve center of Saudi real estate development, said Khaled Hassan Al-Gahtani, vice chairman of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Businessmen as well as those associated with tourism say that the massive development in Al-Khobar Corniche area will attract people from other parts of the Kingdom as well as from the neighboring Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
