The Dubai-based developer also said it will further expand into the London market with a new up-scale project
Dubai-based Damac Properties might consider opportunities in “gateway cities” such as Los Angeles or New York in the US as its next step into international markets, according to a senior official.The property developer has also said that it is going to further expand into the London market with a new up-scale project, its first since 2008.
“After the global financial crisis, we decided not to invest further in the Middle East markets, due to political reasons. Instead, we shifted focus outside the region,” said Damac’s Chairman Hussain Sajwan, as quoted by Gulf News.“There will be multiple projects in London and the aim is to become one of the serious players in that market.
“We have such a significant database of 30,000 high-income customers from all the properties we have sold in Dubai and the Gulf.
“Many of them bought into our first London project. And there are many who are doing so at the roadshows we have held and had never even heard of Damac before.
Sajwan indicated that the next step could take Damac to gateway cities in the US, which he said would be a step he would love to take.
According to the Financial Times, Sajwan said that he wants to do a master plan like Akoya in a suburb of London.
“We want to be among the three biggest property developers in London within five years. We are there for the long haul,” he said.
As for financing, Sajwan added: “Joint ventures involving us financing is not on the agenda. If other developers are involved, it will be limited to the land they might be holding,” he said.
Outside the UAE, Damac has worked in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and is also involved with the Lebanese and Jordanian markets.
As well as announcing a new project on the banks of the Dubai Canal earlier this year, the firm is also working with the Trump Organisation to develop two golf courses at its Akoya and Akoya Oxygen megaprojects.
Sajwani said the first golf course and clubhouse would be opened either in the final quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2017.
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