Damac plans to build a Rodeo Drive-inspired street of shops and cafes at its Akoya project in Dubai complete with the UAE's first outdoor ice skating rink in an attempt to attract shoppers from Dubai's newest neighbourhoods.
The Dubai-based developer announced yesterday that it was working up plans to build a 1.3-kilometre long, high-end shopping street similar to The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residences, which it says will echo the likes of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the Champs Elyseés in Paris and the Croisette in Cannes.
Damac said that the new shopping street at its 42 million square foot Donald Trump-designed golf course-led development would be one of the longest outdoor parades of shops and restaurants in Dubai, measuring slightly longer than 13 football pitches end to end.
The company said that the new street, which will be as big as JBR Walk, would comprise four piazzas containing an artificial ice rink, an outdoor cinema, a nine-hole putting green and a children’s play area.
“Dubai has a lot of shopping malls which are more like an air-conditioned shoe box. This is a walking, strolling experience with the family,” said Ziad El Chaar, the managing director of Damac Properties.
“We are talking to a Canadian company about creating the outdoor ice rink in Dubai. They have replicated the same sensation of ice that you have in artificial materials. It is not cold. There is no energy consumption,” he added.
Damac declined to say how much the scheme would cost until it issues tenders later in the summer. The company said that it expected to issue tenders for enabling work in July or August this year and expected to complete the entire project by 2018.
It declined to give names of any retailers or restaurants that had signed up to lease space in the scheme but added that there were “lots of conversations happening at the moment for various retail components”.
The developer said that it would use “fans and cooling techniques” to make the attraction “more bearable during” July and August.
The developer claimed that more than 80,000 people will live within 16km of the new street by the time it is completed in 2018, drawing shoppers from new housing developments along the Emirates Road.
But Damac is not the only Dubai developer with the same idea. Last year rival Union Properties announced that it was also planning to build a Champs Elyseés-inspired shopping street at its nearby Motor City project.
Last week CBRE named Dubai the world's second best overall retail destination behind London for a third successive year.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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