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ETA Star unveils mall venture
UAE property developer ETA Star has launched its first shopping mall in Dubai as part of a Dh1.5-billion mixed-use project in Business Bay.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 April 16, 2007
- Visitors inspect a model of the Starhill Towers and Gallery. Construction will begin in the third quarter of this year and the project is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2010.
- Image Credit: Megan Hirons/Gulf News
Dubai: UAE property developer ETA Star has launched its first shopping mall in Dubai as part of a Dh1.5-billion mixed-use project in Business Bay.
Starhill Towers & Gallery is a twin-tower waterfront development comprising freehold offices, a five-star hotel and a luxury shopping mall.
The Starhill mall is being opened under a licensing and management contract with Malaysia's diversified YTL Corporation.
YTL's Starhill mall in Kuala Lumpur's famous Bukit Bintang area houses about 100 top luxury brands.
Construction work will begin in the third-quarter of 2007 and the project is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2010.
Abid Junaid, executive director of ETA Star, said his group will launch similar boutique shopping malls both in the UAE and abroad.
"We are not looking at stand-alone malls. Most of our malls will be small and part of the integrated developments that we are doing," he said.
Junaid said the gross development value of ETA's projects in the UAE is about Dh10 billion.
ETA also has projects in Oman, Qatar, Pakistan and India. It is considering mall ventures with YTL in other countries.
"If they expand to other places, we are ready to grow with them," YTL executive director Eric Eoon Whai San told Gulf News.
ETA's most ambitious expansion is planned for India, where it has already invested Dh430 million in a shopping mall in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It is building a mall in Bangalore with a similar investment and another Dh600-million mall in Mumbai.
ETA has also unveiled a large real estate development in Tamil Nadu with an estimated development cost of over Dh1.2 billion.
Plans
ETA Star aims to have 2,000 rooms in its hotels and serviced apartments within two years, Junaid said.
The company recently opened a 90-unit serviced apartment block to grow into the hospitality sector.
It hopes to open one 100-unit block and an 180-unit property later this year.
Its most prestigious hospitality project is the Dh1.2-billion Taj Exotica Resort & Spa and The Grandeur Residences on the Palm Jumeirah island. The Palm hotel will open in 2009.
ETA has one four-star hotel under construction in Bangalore.
MEGAN HIRONS/Gulf News
Future rising
Visitors inspect a model of the Starhill Towers and Gallery. Construction will begin in the third quarter of this year and the project is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2010.
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