The project, to be built in phases, is expected to be complete
in 54 months, said the UAE’s biggest builder, whose shares climbed 1.2 percent
after the deal.
The first phase of the project, valued at $245.1 million,
will start immediately, said Arabtec in a statement posted on the Dubai bourse
website.
Riad Kamal, chairman of Arabtec, said he was “very pleased”
to reach an agreement with Khoie Properties, the parent firm of La Hoya Bay.
The project will add to the company’s long list of projects developed and
executed in the UAE, he added.
Frank Khoie, Chairman of Khoie Properties, said the project
would help Ras Al Khaimah in its bid to become a destination of quality
waterfront and resort environment living.
Earlier this month, Khoie said the construction work on the
project would resume soon, adding that he was determined to hand over the
waterfront project by December next year and said fresh funding would be in
place shortly.
Work on the project was suspended after Khoie’s arrest in
January 2009 for check fraud. He received a three-year jail term for bouncing a
$15.6 million check written to Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (Rakia).
The La Hoya Bay project, located on Marjan Island, is Ras Al
Khaimah’s largest real estate development. Designed in a series of curves, the
reclaimed island comprises more than 1,400 apartments in the seven buildings.
Other phases of the project include offices and shops.
“We are very bullish about Marjan Island in general and our
La Hoya Bay project in particular, and are confident that from September
onwards, our sales and re-sales will take off,” Khoie said.
Khoie Properties has already received some $81.6 million in
down payments from its 800 investors, half of whom are based in the UK. Around
$19.6 million has been paid to Rakia for one plot of land, which houses three
finished residential buildings of seven planned for the site.
Khoie earlier said it had signed contractors Dutch
Foundation and Progressive Construction to recommence work on the site and said
sales operations for the project had resumed.
The La Hoya Bay project, comprising five mixed-use elements
apart from the external landscaping works, include La Hoya Residences with
seven residential buildings and recreational facilities.
Other elements of the project are La Hoya Bay Business
Village: comprising offices with free zone status, apartments and retail space;
a European Village with 12 residential buildings, retail space and a 200-room
hotel; La Hoya Bay Autumn Leaves, comprising premium serviced apartments with
medical facilities, a private yacht club and a community center for the
semi-retired; and La Hoya Bay Bermuda Hotel and Apartments: comprising 800
quality condominiums and a 300-room hotel and yacht club.
