District One villas get ready for handover

Dubai - Property to comprise 1,500 villas, a man-made lagoon, man-made beaches and acres of green space

District One, one of the pilot projects in Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, is bracing for a major milestone.
Villas launched in phase one will be handed over to home owners and investors from June until December this year, said P.N.C. Menon, chairman of Sobha Group.
The firm is in a joint venture with Meydan to develop District One, which will eventually comprise 1,500 villas, a man-made lagoon, man-made beaches, a boardwalk, acres of green space and other community facilities.
The project also features opulent seven- and eight-bedroom mansions which are priced from Dh60 million and go up to Dh90 million and range in size from 18,000sqft to 32,000sqft.
"We have sold 37 mansions so far. District One is a like a piece of fine jewellery. It cannot be replicated elsewhere. There is no offering like our mansions on the primary market anywhere in the world. They are a very exclusive offering for the discerning ones," added Menon.
District One has attracted a majority of end users and approximately 10 to 15 per cent investors. While the four-, five-and six-bedroom villas launched in phases one and two are more or less sold out, sales have picked up for units in phase three as well.
"The real estate business is cyclical in any part of the world. It is not confined to Dubai," the chairman explained.
Meanwhile, Sobha Group, already India's leading real estate brand, is also making good progress on Sobha Hartland, a project it is developing on its own in MBR City. It has opened four- and five-bedroom show villas to the public. "We have sold most apartments that were launched. In terms of villas, we have launched about 39 of them, of which 15 to 20 have been sold," Menon said.
Apartments in the Sobha Hartland Greens are priced from Dh1,520 per sqft. Meanwhile, villas are priced from Dh11.5 million and go up to Dh36 million and above.
Besides a Hartland International School, Sobha has signed a partnership agreement with the North London Collegiate School to open a facility in the project by September 2017.
- deepthi@khaleejtimes.com