Nakheel will start leasing shops on Palm Jumeirah’s Golden Mile today with the first of them expected to open by April.
The developer took over the ownership of Palm Jumeirah’s Golden Mile retail and office units in November.
Spinney’s, the supermarket chain, will be among its first tenants.
The rest of the brands are expected to be announced within weeks, according to a Nakheel spokeswoman on Sunday.
As of September, 27 retailers were waiting to move into the development. All of them previously signed contracts with Souq Residences, a joint venture between Kuwait’s IFA Hotels and Resorts and the Dubai World unit, Istithmar. These tenants will get priority for allocation of space, the Nakheel spokeswoman said.
Some of the original tenants included Waitrose, Beyond the Beach, Starbucks, the restaurant Wagamama, Mothercare, Pinkberry, Boots, Party Zone, Loft Fifth Avenue Salons and NStyle.
Steven Holbrook, the chief executive at the retailer Al Boom Marine, said yesterday he had not yet been told about the new leasing programme.
He signed a contract with the original owner Souq Residences about four years ago.
Jacob Hrayki, the owner of Loft Fifth Avenue Salons, said he was moving into the Golden Mile in April.
The stretch, which will serve thousands of residential units and luxury hotels, will eventually have 70 retail outlets. About 400,000 square feet of office and retail space is available. Last year, the master developer took over all unsold units in the Golden Mile, including residential, office and retail space from Souq Residences, against which it started legal proceedings in 2010. The dispute was eventually settled out of court.
Golden Mile and Souq Residence were both joint ventures between Kuwait’s IFA Hotels and Resorts and the Dubai World subsidiary Istithmar.
The Golden Mile development was launched in 2005. But it became entangled in a contractual row when Palm Jumeirah’s master developer Nakheel brought a US$27.2 million lawsuit against Souq Residences before the Dubai World Tribunal.
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