Abu Dhabi's first Rosewood The opening date has been set for May.

 

The first Rosewood Hotel in Abu Dhabi is set to open in May, according to Ali Eid Al Mheiri, executive director of Mubadala Real Estate and Infrastructure.

Mubadala's Al Maryah Island development, formerly known as Sowwah Island, includes the 189-room five-star hotel. The 114-hectare project, which is still in the planning stages, is envisioned as Abu Dhabi's new financial district, with the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange as its centerpiece. qatar sale

According to the hotel website, the Rosewood hotel was designed by Handel Architects and features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Arabian Gulf in every room. There are also 1,636 square meters of meeting space as well as nine restaurants and lounges at the hotel.

The hotel's opening will be a watershed moment for the Al Maryah project, which has been in the works for six years and cost Dh4 billion ($1.089 billion). However, due to development issues that have hampered projects across the UAE, the project has taken longer than anticipated.

Last year, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange was supposed to move into its new headquarters, but it hasn't happened yet.

Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's investment arm, aspires to develop a financial district akin to Canary Wharf in London or La Défense in Paris.

Mubadala announced this week that 92 percent of the office space in its 40,000-square-meter Al Silla office tower and 82 percent of the office space in its 45,000-square-meter Al Maqam office tower has been rented.

 

Kenya is attracting international real estate investors.

International property developers have turned their attention to Kenya in the hopes of selling high-end apartments in Dubai and London to Kenya's growing middle class.

According to Business Daily Africa, Dubai-based Emaar Properties, the developer of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, is selling townhouses in the new Mira development in Kenya, with units priced about $271,000 on average.

Emaar pitched Kenyans apartments in The Address Residence Sky View in February, with a one-bedroom unit costing about $785,000.

Seer Acquisitions, a British property investment company, has also placed ads in local papers searching for Kenyans to buy "self-contained" student apartments in Birmingham for $60,675.

According to Business Daily, international property developers are promoting "high rental returns, stable housing rates, and friendly property ownership regulations" to entice Kenyan investors.

The emerging class of very wealthy Kenyans who want to buy holiday homes or diversify their investment portfolios is the goal, according to David Gikandi, the local representative of Dubai-based Damac Properties. "The Dubai property market is very appealing because it provides annual returns of about 15%."

According to Knight Frank's Global Cities Index, prices for prime property in Dubai increased 20% last year due to high demand for residential and office space.