Style City project

The Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) yesterday announced the launch of its latest development concept, Style City. The $7bn project is to be located in various parts of the world, including Qatar.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, managing director and board member Rashad Y Janahi said the company planned to set up a chain of style cities to be commercially known as Porta Moda.

“The Style City concept will be implemented in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia and India as part of the memorandums of understanding ADIH has signed with major developments in these countries”.
China is another location the company was looking at, he said.

In Morocco and Tunisia, these would be stand alone projects, as opposed to the Qatari venture which would be part of the Qatar Entertainment City to come up at Lusail.

Likewise the Indian venture would be part of the Entertainment City planned for Navi Mumbai.
Announcing the “innovative” concept of style cities, Janahi said they would seek to attract international brand names in style, design of fashion, jewellery, furniture and luxury living from both academic and retail aspects to create style and design hubs.

The first of its kind ‘Style City’ concept would be a mixed-use development comprising residential and retail components while focusing on fashion and style.
The ‘city’ will feature a grand fashion district containing premium and luxury brands in fashion, jewellery and interior design fields, an educational district containing institutions for the same, as well as museums and exhibition centres.

There would also be a residential and a leisure district with town houses, studios, luxury villas, cafes, restaurants and renowned boutique hotels and spas.
”There is such a wealth of talented young designers in the region who are traditionally drawn to cities such as London, Paris, New York and Milan to develop their skills in these very competitive markets,” Janahi said.

“We want to help provide environments where the same people can nurture their chosen profession in the world of style, design and fashion but be given the chance to stay close to the markets and consumers they serve. This undoubtedly is the dawn of a new era in fashion and design.”

To implement the projects, ADIH has signed strategic partnerships and MoUs with major institutions.

Janahi signed a MoU with Dr Hani Shammah, CEO, Emirates International Properties (EIP), the real estate arm of Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC), in order to create Porta Moda Abu Dhabi.

Janahi also signed two MoUs with Peter Panayiotou, acting CEO, Gulf Finance House (GFH), one of the region’s successful investment banks, to establish Porta Moda in GFH’s North African developments under way in Morocco (the Royal Ranches, Marrakech) and Tunisia.

With these MoUs, dedicated locations within these developments will feature Porta Moda to serve the surrounding communities.

Additionally, both the Qatar Entertainment City and India Entertainment City have signed MoUs with ADIH to develop Porta Moda Qatar and Porta Moda India.

The master-planning of the Porta Modas around the world is being developed according to high international standards and is aimed to best serve the market segments targeted.

A study has revealed that young adults were moving towards studying aesthetics and arts, the officials said. With the Style City being within their geographic reach, they would be able to get their education from international talents and expertise.

Additionally, the real estate industry was booming within these countries – with growing populations representing an extremely huge middle-class consumer market, resulting in the inherent attraction for major multinational companies.

Developments in the real estate sector as a whole were being driven by demand for more housing units in cities and towns because of growing urbanisation of these countries’ population, a burgeoning middle-class, increased disposable income, easy availability of housing finance at cheaper rates and tax incentives, the officials said.

Built on such a combination of factors, the ‘Style City’ presents an unprecedented investment opportunity for investors looking to diversify portfolio, the officials said.

A ‘Style City’ fund would soon be created and placed through the ADIH placement team and underwriters, who were marketing the fund throughout the Gulf, Janahi said.

The placement team was available in Qatar as also in the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and throughout the region. The fund was also being marketed to international investors, based on high levels of indicated interest.

Its previous investment funds did well for investors, Janahi said. For instance, when the fund exited the Lagoon fund, investors had a yield of 30% in 16 months. Similarly, its Al-Arabi Private Equity Fund registered a return of 25% in a short period.

Also present on the occasion were Mahmood Samy Naib, chief development officer of the real estate department at ADIH and Global Entertainment Group chairman Joel A Katz. Source