Dubai: Sometimes a change of name can work wonders. The developer of one of Oman’s upscale mixed-use destinations sure hopes to get a lift from such a switch.

As of last week, the project earlier known “Saraya Bandar Jissah” became a much more succinct “Muscat Bay”. And it wasn’t done in a hurry or with a lack of rationale. “We launched a full-scale investigation to see how the residential sales could be accelerated by a few gears,” said Paul Jessop, Vice-President for Sales and Marketing of the $600 million (Dh2.2 billion) development. “And we came up with two reasons to change the identity — one, we wanted to position ourselves from being a construction company to a lifestyle developer of a “resort village”.

“And, two, when we are selling the residences across geographies, not many knew how to make sense of Saraya Bandar Jissah. But with Muscat Bay they get an instant idea.”

Muscat Bay is a joint venture between Omran and Saraya Holding Oman. The project, long in gestation, finally got going in 2012 when the master plan was finalised. Two years later, it launched the phase one residences featuring 260 units. But as with most projects in the Gulf during the current period, Muscat Bay’s sales programme had to deal with investors playing safe with new commitments.

Even then, in the period since the third quarter of 2014 when the launch took place, the project has managed to sell about 100 of the upscale homes, with 70 per cent of the take up being by Omanis. And the sales tally is rated as good going in a market such as Oman’s.

“There are only five ITC (integrated tourism complexes, where overseas buyers can own property) in Oman and together adding less than 800 homes,” said Jessop. “This means there won’t be too much of new supply emerging, and that gives us the time to hunt down prospective buyers.

“We also changed our marketing approach significantly and opting to go more direct for buyers. The price points and the product mix was extended. And at an average of Dh800 a square foot, ours is competitively priced than any other ITC offering.”

First handovers

It meant that the entry level homes have prices of Dh850,000 while the “trophy assets” carry a tag of Dh19 million. As per the current targets, the rest of the Phase 1 units should be sold in the next year and more, which leaves the stage open for the launch of phase 2. Across both phases, there will be 400 odd homes, of which the first handovers will take place at some point this year.

“For the second phase, there could be a price premium,” said Jessop. “Typically, in resort-style developments there will always be more demand generated in later releases.” (In all, there will be five residential zones. There will also be a “Village Square”, featuring the retail and entertainment options.)

And the location’s allure with likely investors will only increase when the first hotel — managed by Jumeirah — opens within the next 12 months. There is also room for a second boutique-type hotel. Together,

The entire development — set between Al Hajar Mountains and Arabian Gulf — has its eyes set on a 2020-21 completion.