Nakheel is to resume work on the landmark development at the entrance to the Palm Jumeirah – more than six years after it was first launched.
The original Dh2.5 billion Palm Gateway was scheduled to be completed in 2011 but became a casualty of the 2008 property collapse, when projects ground to a halt across the emirate.
There has been much interest over the past six years in the fate of the development that looms over the entrance to the Palm at the terminal of the island’s monorail.
“The Palm Gateway brings yet another iconic, landmark project to our flagship, world-famous development of the Palm Jumeirah, and adds hundreds more residential and retail units to our leasing portfolio,” Ali Rashid Lootah, the Nakheel chairman, said yesterday.
The revived three-tower project includes 1,300 homes, a beach club, retail, dining and health and fitness facilities.
The developer did not disclose construction details, but the project is understood to be targeted for completion in 2017.
The Japanese contractor Taisei won the original contract to develop the vast podium of the project, while the consultant Mott MacDonald provided technical assistance.
Nakheel has resumed work on a number of projects on the island that were stalled after the 2008 property crash.
The largest of these is the Nakheel Mall, scheduled for completion by 2016. Last year Nakheel also revealed a plan to build an 11-kilometre boardwalk around the crescent of the Palm Jumeirah.
It will run the entire length of the crescent, with a pier stretching 100 metres into the Arabian Gulf at either end.
The developer also plans to create a 1.5km beach along the Palm’s western trunk.
scronin@thenational.ae
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