Nakheel plans to give shoppers on Palm Jumeirah reason to cheer with the development of two major retail facilities on the man-made island.
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The Dubai company is in talks with banks to raise at least Dh300 million (US$81.6m) to build almost 47,000 square metres of retail and residential space on the tip of the Palm island's trunk, designed to include a public walkway, residences, shops, fountains and restaurants. The entire retail development will be called The Pointe.
Nakheel is also expected to begin work on the much-anticipated Palm Mall this year, which will offer about 80,000 sq metres of leasable retail space, said Ali Rashed Lootah, Nakheel's chairman.
"There are currently about 30,000 residents on the Palm, which does not include all of the tourists that also visit. It's a destination that is hungry for retail facilities," said Mr Lootah. "[The Pointe] is unique in concept and unique in location and design."
Nakheel expects The Pointe to be finished by the end of next year at the latest, with the Palm Mall to be completed after that.
The company has been rebuilding its business over the past two years after a downturn in Dubai's property market caused the value of its projects to fall dramatically. The Pointe is the developer's first major project since it received financial support in 2009.
After the completion of a debt restructuring in August, Nakheel is now owned by the Dubai Financial Support Fund, which was set up to distribute $20bn of investment from Abu Dhabi and the Central Bank.
Mr Lootah declined to comment on where the Palm Mall would be constructed, but it is expected to be situated in the middle of the Palm at the location previously set aside for the now shelved Trump Tower.
He added that retailers had been showing interest in the new development on the tip of the Palm, which would be focused on food and beverage outlets, and in becoming a leisure destination similar to The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence.
"It's The Walk, but it is designed in a different way," said Mr Lootah. "I would expect that given such a location and type of ambience, there will be a lot of food and beverage outlets."
Marwan Al Hamar, the managing director for Subway in the UAE, said The Pointe would be "great news" for retailers.
"It's something that has big potential," he said. "More and more people are living on The Palm permanently."
Subway has one outlet on The Palm and Mr Al Hamer said he would look to open more outlets there as The Pointe developed.
Property analysts also said The Pointe development would fill a gap in retail facilities on the Palm.
"At the moment, the whole development is vastly underserved," said Matthew Green, the head of consulting at the property consultancy CBRE. "You have a handful of shops but they do not cater for the needs of the residents. The proposition for the banks is more credible than other projects [in Dubai]."
The feasibility of the Palm Mall was less clear, he said, because of access issues and its proposed size.
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