Becker and ACI serve ace with Dh3b project

Dubai: Property developer ACI Real Estate on Wednesday launched a Dh3 billion tennis academy and resort in Ras Al Khaimah along with tennis legend Boris Becker.

The Boris Becker Beach Resort and Tennis Academy is ACI's first hotel project and Becker's first tennis academy that he will co-own.

"This (academy) means players no longer have to go to California and Florida to train, they can come here," Becker told Gulf News.

The academy will have four outdoor courts and two indoor courts, which is ideal in Dubai's hot summers.

Becker has hand-picked a team of Davis Cup players who will coach at the academy. And Becker himself will be there "as often as I can" to coach a lucky select few. The total size of the Beach Resort and Tennis Academy is 2.5 million square feet. Viewed from above, the resort resembles a sea turtle. The tennis academy will be housed in the 'shell' part.

The resort will also have a 223-room hotel and 1,000 serviced apartments including studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, which investors can buy to use and lease.

"We're going more global so we want to give outsiders a chance to have an investment here. People can come for one or two months and stay in the apartments," Robin Lohmann, managing director of ACI, said.

Professionals

Lohmann said the development would target tennis professionals who could train at the academy and families whose children want to try their hand at tennis. The project also comprises a business centre and convention centre.

In line with keeping green, the resort will be powered partly by solar energy.

ACI has also started work on three of six towers in Dubai Waterfront.

Their next project will be a residential one to be launched at the end of November but Lohmann said only that it would be located 'on the water'.