Sharapova officially launches Dh2.4b Dubai Lifestyle City

Dubai: Tennis ace Maria Sharapova yesterday officially launched the Dh2.4 billion Dubai Lifestyle City.

"It is an honour for me to be associated with the launch of this project as it includes the IMG Academies," Sharapova told the media at the launch.

"This is an incredible project and I would willingly do anything to support anything that has IMG associated with it as I was with the IMG Academy from the time I was seven," Sharapova added.

The Dubai Lifestyle City is ETA Star Group's life-style project to be located in Dubailand, the region's largest tourism, leisure, entertainment and lifestyle destination.

Alongside the launch, Sharapova also inaugurated the Dubai Lifestyle City Wall of Fame, one of the many unique attractions that will mark the project.

The project will consist of 68 Tuscan-themed villas and 120 villettes all conceived by the celebrated Beverley Hills designer Tony Ashai. Of these, 87 units have already been sold out as of Monday night. The total value of the units already sold out has exceeded Dh1 billion.

"We are expecting sales to pick up at a much faster pace after the launch of the project," stated Arif B. Rahman, managing director, Dubai Lifestyle City.

The project will have Tuscan style architecture with the villas serviced by JW Marriott and a first of its kind digital community created by Microsoft.

The project covers a land area of over four million square feet and aims at the creation of a self-sufficient lifestyle community having an exquisite detail of Italian architecture.

Dubai Lifestyle City has entered into partnerships with some of the most respected brands including JW Marriott, IMG Acad-emies, Microsoft and Cisco.