Dubai Holding 're-evaluating' Jumeirah Central, insists project will continue

Chief operating officer to depart by year-end following "organisational restructuring

Dubai Holding said it was "re-evaluating its Dh73.4 billion Jumeirah Central project, unveiled at Cityscape Global in September 2016. Satish Kumar / The National

Dubai Holding, one of the emirate’s three big conglomerates, is “re-evaluating” its 47 million square feet Jumeirah Central residential and office development on the Sheikh Zayed Road “to meet expected future demand”. The company said it remains committed to the overall project.  

The developer said yesterday its changing priorities for the development, unveiled at last year's Cityscape Global exhibition, have prompted a restructuring of its upper management, with chief operating officer Morgan Parker due to leave the company in the next three months.

“Dubai Holding is prioritising projects that will be ready for Expo 2020 Dubai and those that will help draw tourists to the Emirate," a Dubai Holding spokesperson said on Sunday.

"As a result, we are currently focusing our resources on projects such as Marsa Al Arab.  We are still committed to Jumeirah Central but the project is currently being re-evaluated to meet expected future market demand. This decision has resulted in an organisational restructuring that will see Morgan Parker stepping down from his role by the end of this year.”

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Jumeirah Central was originally due to include 9 million square feet of retail space, 7.5 million square feet of offices, hotels with a total of 7,200 rooms, and 11,000 homes.

The project is based on the former site of the Mall of the World project, and is set to contain a total of 278 projects in total.  Although Dubai Holding did not say how many phases would be developed in total, it said its intention is to concentrate on the south-eastern corner of the site adjacent to the existing Sharaf DG Metro station.

The first phase of the overall project was to comprise 17 million square feet, including 12 office projects and 14 hotels.

At the time of its unveiling, Jumeirah Central's total cost was estimated at Dh73.4b billion. Of that, the company said it would spend roughly Dh24bn on the first phase of the project.