Falcon City of Wonders to gain new life

Reuters

HONG KONG: The main developer of one of Dubai’s most outlandish real estate projects, the Falcon City of Wonders, says the long-delayed project will gain new life this year with around $2 billion in new developments.
The falcon-shaped project has seen only about a tenth of the 5,500 planned homes built since its launch in 2005 and although billed to include outsized replicas of The Pyramids and the Taj Mahal, there are as yet no “wonders” on the 42 million square foot plot.
Salem Ahmad Almoosa Enterprises, the family-owned conglomerate that is spearheading the development, says the project’s troubles have been caused by sub-developers in charge of attractions such as replicas of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower and recreations of downtown areas of the likes of London and New York.
“When we sold these we made it very clear, they had to start construction immediately and they kept on delaying,” Alharith Almoosa, vice-chairman of Falconcity of Wonders said at a property exhibition in Hong Kong where he was publicizing the project.
Almoosa said Falcon City has since retaken control of more than 10 of these sub-developments which include a mix of residential units, retail, offices and hotels.
The company achieved this via Dubaiís real estate regulations, arbitration or amicable agreement, he said but declined to provide further details or identify the sub-developers, citing confidentiality agreements.
Almoosa said the overall project could still be completed by 2020 and that his company was in talks with new investors but declined to provide more details on how the $2 billion in new developments would be funded.
Gaining new investment could be a tough sell, with Dubai property prices again in decline and transaction numbers also down following a sharp rebound from the crash of 2008-10.
“Sometimes the agreement moves forward, sometimes agreement rolled back, this is normal business procedure. Not every day is a happy day,” said Almoosa, adding that Dubai’s hosting of the Expo 2020 exhibition will buoy its property sector.