Dubai: A part of Dubai International Real Estate, Roda Hotels expects to take on as many as 10,000 staffers for its multiple hospitality projects in Dubai. This includes the hotel and serviced apartment components at the Dh4 billion ‘Jewel of the Creek’ development near Al Maktoum Bridge.
On Monday, the topping-out ceremony was held for the project in which Leighton Habtoor is the main contractor. Design was done by a partnership between Kling Consult and Kieferle & Partner.
The plan is to launch the recruitment drive from September.
“Between Jewel of the Creek and the projects in Jumeirah and Garhoud, we will have extensive staffing needs,” said Imad Elias, CEO of Roda Hotels. “Dubai as a whole will require another 120,000 rooms to absorb future demand up to 2020. During the week of the recent Gulf Food, all of the hotels in the city were booked.
“Roda’s focus on fast tracking all of its hospitality projects is not misplaced.” (The company also owns a four-tower serviced apartments cluster in JBR and a villa community in Jumeirah.) If the projected workforce numbers do bear fruit, this will make Roda one of the biggest employers in the emirate. It will also take place at a time when other key sectors remain in retrenchment mode.
The flagship Roda hotel, featuring 460 rooms, will open August next year as part of the first phase deliveries at Jewel of the Creek. Plus, there will be a set of four adjacent buildings — with 480 units — for use as longer stay serviced apartments.
Apart from its unsurpassed location near Dubai Creek and Al Maktoum Bridge, the development has also created a water body to surround it. This will take the form of a 400-metre swimming pool, and putatively the longest such in the Middle East. In addition, there will be a 60-berth marina.
“Investments on the first two phases will take up Dh2 billion, and the second phase is scheduled for an August 2018 delivery,” said Elias. “In a month’s time, the lobby of the hotel will be in place and featuring a 16-metre atrium.”
There will be nine structures making up Jewel of the Creek, including a no-frills plug-and-play hotel. The masterplan also incorporates the ‘Dubai Dome’, conceived as a multi-purpose facility that can seat up to 3,000 people. Retail elements will be spread across the development and on the waterfront, and details of the first set of tenants are to be announced at the upcoming Arabian Travel Market.
The fourth and final phase will be complete in the second-half of 2019 and well ahead of the big bang that will be provided by the hosting of the Expo 2020. There will be no units available on freehold.
“Earlier plans had marked out possibilities for offices... but we have dropped it,” said Elias. “Instead we will create water chalets across strategic points of the development — the demand will be significant.
“We will take time to reveal the number of chalets and their features — but these would be in the hundreds.”
All about the development
• The Jewel of the Creek development covers 123,955 square metres between Al Maktoum bridge and the Floating Bridge.
• The main entrance will be a via a 9-metre wide tunnel. Up to 6,000 car parks will also feature in the development.
