ArabianBusiness.com

There is little surprise at this hotel’s entry into the Top 10 Hotel openings of 2010. There were sceptics who claimed this was a “fluff” opening, but the noise surrounding the arrival of the world’s first Armani hotel couldn’t be ignored. All eyes were on Dubai for the right reasons — and quite a stunning hotel was the result. Room categories available include 24 Armani Studios, 44 Armani Classic rooms, 38 Armani Premiere rooms, 36 Armani Suites, six Armani Executive and six Armani Ambassador Suites, and five Armani Signature Suites.

Armani-branded residences in the Burj Khalifa are comparatively holding their sale value, despite other apartments in the world’s tallest tower seeing price declines of more than 70 percent, real estate brokers have said. Average sale prices for the tower’s 144 luxury Armani Residences are valued at AED4-5,000 per square foot; at their minimum, almost double the AED2,800 per sq ft commanded by the remainder of the skyscraper’s 900 apartments, said Catherine Clarke, head of residential valuations at real estate consultancy firm Colliers International.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said the emirate is recovering after state-controlled holding company Dubai World reached a debt restructuring settlement with creditors. Dubai’s vision is unchanged after projects such as Meydan’s racecourse and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building developed by Emaar Properties, were completed on schedule, Sheikh Mohammed said. “All the projects that were there are going ahead,” although some may be delayed for six months to a year, he said.

Missoni Kuwait is the latest in a growing list of Gulf hotels designed by top Italian fashion labels. The first Armani hotel opened in Dubai in 2010 and will be followed by the launch of the Palazzo Versace hotel later this year. Elisabetta Gucci, the great-granddaughter of the founder of the fashion label, last year said Dubai would be the setting for the first of up to 40 Gucci branded hotels.

Only a quarter of people who took part in the latest Arabian Business survey said they though the AED100 ticket price to go up the Burj Khalifa was reasonable.

The 64 million sq ft Business Bay is set to become home to about 191,000 people across 240 towers when completed. “The location they are in right now gave them such a favourable rate it is actually cheaper to rent than to fit out a new office so we said we will wait for a couple of years,” Lufti said.

Liz O'Connor, director of residential sales and leasing at Better Homes said that she has seen some distressed sales entering the market, especially as the final payments on properties becomes due. “There are some distress sales in the market… We have seen secondary Burj Khalifa properties coming on line; for many owners the final installment is due to be paid shortly which is promoting some to sell,” said O’Connor.

Sharjah plans to rival Dubai’s Burj Khalifa development with the launch of a waterfront project set to spearhead a real estate ‘renaissance’ in the emirate, Cluttons said in a report Sunday. The emirate’s investment authority, Shurooq, is transforming Al Majaz Park on the Al Buhaira Corniche into a social hub, featuring a fountain centerpiece and rows of hotels and restaurants.