Dubai Sports City to be integrated community with mixed facilities

With various components coming online at Dubai Sports City, the development is slowly taking shape and will soon be the world's first fully integrated sports community.

Dubai With various components coming online at Dubai Sports City, the development is slowly taking shape and will soon be the world's first fully integrated sports community.

“Dubai Sports City, developed by three entrepreneurs Abdul Rahim Al Zarouni, Abdul Rahman Bukhatir and Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, is a $5 billion project (Dh18.3 billion) in Dubai Land evolving around sport.”

Covering 50 million square feet, the project will feature a mixture of residential, retail and commercial units, sports facilities and academies along with all the other basic amenities needed in a community with an estimated population of 70,000 residents.

The main structure will be a 60,000 seat multi-purpose outdoor stadium. Other sports facilities will include a cricket ground, indoor arena and field hockey stadium.

Academies will include the Manchester United Soccer Schools facility, an International Cricket Council Global Cricket Academy, World Hockey Academy, Butch Harmon School of Golf and David Lloyd Tennis Academy.

‘Original plan intact'

"The original master plan remains intact. All infrastructure work has been completed and we are very fortunate in that many of our key elements have been delivered and are in full operation," said a Dubai Sports City spokesperson.

The first completed facility in the development is the 18-hole championship golf course, The Els Club which opened in January 2008.

The past year has seen Dubai Sports City open the Dubai International Cricket Stadium that has hosted two international cricket series, one national football event and two Bollywood concerts.

This was followed by the Butch Harmon School of Golf which opened last February.

The Dubai Sports City Hockey Stadium is now complete and will open alongside the Dubai Sports City Academies Campus in the first quarter of 2010 as will The Academies Campus.

The Gateway is the first commercial property released by Dubai Sports City, with a total built up area of 1.2 million square feet and 44 floors of offices per tower.

Retail includes Arena Mall which will be directly linked to the outdoor cricket stadium and multi-purpose indoor stadium.

Victory Heights, Dubai's Sports City's main residential community, combined with the Els Golf course comprises 50 per cent of Dubai Sport City's area.

This residential section has handed over 320 villas and intends to reach 400 villas within the next five to six weeks.

The community which comprises seven villages and 961 villas has sold 95 per cent of phase one which is due to be complete by the end of 2010.

Surge in prices

Villas hin Victory Heights have reported a surge of 20 per cent in prices in the third quarter of this year as a result of growing demand for family houses and a predicted villa shortage in 2010, after falling 50 per cent in the first half of this year.

"Prices dropped around 40 per cent from 2008, but then saw an increase of 20 per cent in 2009," said head of marketing for Victory Heights, Talal Shihabi.

Other residential communities in the development include Canal Residence West which, situated along the canal promenade, will be complete in September 2010.