Damac hold the Trump card as real estate & golf combine in Dubai

12:55 04/12/2013
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  • Damac Properties, the Dubai-based luxury developers, have recently announced Akoya, a $2.5 billion master development in the Dubailand area, comprising villas and mansions constructed around a golf course designed by Gil Hanse.

    The golf course will be managed by Donald Trump Organisation and is the 15th golf course in their extensive portfolio, but the first in Asia.

    The Trump International Dubai is also the first golf course project announced in the UAE in a long time, and sends out a strong message about the stabilising real estate market.

    Ziad El Chaar, Managing Director, Damac Properties, spoke to Sport360°’s Joy Chakravarty on the importance of the golf course to the Akoya masterplan and why they decided to team up with the Trump Organisation and Hanse.

    Akoya is Damac’s first golfcentred masterplan. How did you decide to have a golf course as the focus of your new residential community?

    The speciality of the company, since the start of the real estate division in 2003, has been luxury real estate. Throughout the years in Dubai, we have been fortunate to get land in key locations in the city where we were able to build iconic towers in association with key brands.

    The opportunity came our way in 2010 when we got a plot where we could build villas and mansions. We have a great set of customers who have been telling us for some time that we like Damac’s luxury, but we’d like it in a villa, or a mansion. We thought about it for some time and came to the conclusion that if you want to build a luxury residential community of villas and mansions, your best option is to build it around a golf course.

    Because golf is a premium sport, you are able to integrate all the elements of luxury of that sport – like the clubhouse, the F&B and spa facilities, the golf course itself as an extended landscaping to the villas – into the masterplan. These are all luxury touch points that just add to the whole experience.

    Where does golf stand in your list of priorities? How important a component is it to your entire masterplan?

    The total area is around three million square metres and almost half of it is being allocated to the golf course. We believe that having a championship size, and championship quality golf course, is the key to building a premium residential community. The golf course is holding the masterplan and it is the USP of this project…it’s what determines the premiumness of the community.

    Let’s face it, a villa is a villa. You can only do so much with the interiors. The location is a huge factor and once you have a villa on a golf course, a lot of prestige and premium gets attached to it. Having said that, we do not want just any 18-hole course. We want to be true to the spirit of golf, and we want the golf course to be an experience in itself. That is the reason why we have teamed up with the Trump Organisation, a most respected name in not just the real estate industry, but also in the golf course business which is why we have someone as respected as Gil Hanse designing our golf course.

    Why the Trump Organisation?

    If not Trump, who else? Do you think we have any choice when it comes to the kind of standards we are demanding? Today, Trump is the epitome of luxury, whether it be their condos, their hospitality business or their golf courses. 

    Have you given Gil any guiding principle or thought as to what you expect from the golf course? What are your expectations from him?

    We have told him that when it is finally built, if a person looks at a photograph of the golf course, they should be able to identify it as Trump International Dubai. We want it to have a unique identity and we want it to be world class. If you want to know about any specific instructions, then no. The Trump Organisation have a lot more experience in this matter than us, and Gil is perhaps the best golf course architect in the world.

    This is our first golf course project and we are banking completely on their proven reputation. Maybe, we will be more specific on inputs when we are building our fifth or sixth golf course!

    Why did you decide on Gil Hanse? Why not a marquee name like, say, a Tiger Woods or a Jack Nicklaus?

    Of course, there are many players who are now designing golf courses. But for us, it was important to show that we are serious about what we are doing. We wanted a designer who has the respect of the players, the media and the PGA Tours. We wanted to bring in a heavy hitter.

    We did look at many names, but Gil Hanse is the hottest name in the business right now. He is building the most anticipated golf course in the world – the 2016 Rio Olympics golf course – and he is involved with the most talked about redesigning project right now – the Trump Doral.

    What are the timelines you are looking at?

    Ideally, we would like the golf course to be ready for play in 24 months. The bulldozers are already on site and work has already started. We are also currently in the process of selecting an architect for the clubhouse. And I am confident that we will have both the golf course and the clubhouse ready at the same time.

    Given that there have been a few golf course community projects in Dubai that have taken a massive hit during the economic downturn, how did Damac muster the courage to announce the first golf course community project post recession?

    The fact is that Damac has come out of the recession stronger than we were before it just shows that we have very strong fundamentals. We realise that leverage should be kept to bare minimum. Even now, the market is on an upswing, but it is being driven by individual investors and it is not being supported by the banks and financial institutions.

    But to really answer your question, we do see a strong demand and appetite for a project like Akoya. And as a company, Damac has always been very ambitious.

    A general question on the real estate market – do you think the worst is behind us?

    The interest in the real estate market in Dubai never went down. The demand was always there because Dubai has so many positives, starting from the geographical location and great infrastructure, to taxfree status and fantastic lifestyle. But the liquidity had dried up; people wanted to buy property, but they were not getting the finance.

    But as I said, even though the demand is there, it is mostly from the investors. The moment the banks and financial institutions ease their lending processes, we are surely going to see another massive boom.

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