CITY CENTRE: Doha complex will dwarf its rivals

02 April 1999
SPECIAL REPORT CONSTRUCTION

ON a 120,000-square-metre plot of land in the West Bay district of Doha, one of the Gulf's largest commercial and retail projects is taking shape. Eight months after construction began, a reinforced concrete shell is emerging from the ground. In 16 months time, the finished article will be ready to welcome the first visitors to what the promoters promise will be a wholly new shopping experience in Qatar.

There has been a proliferation in shopping mall construction in Doha recently. But the Qatari capital has never before seen anything approaching the scale of the City Centre project. As the first stage in a four-phase development, the shopping mall will have a built-up area of over 180,000 square metres spread over a ground, mezzanine and two upper floors. The total area available for leasing will be 120,000 square metres, with parking on the ground and mezzanine levels for up to 3,500 cars.

The West Bay project is similar in concept to the highly-successful Deira City Centre development in Dubai, which has become a destination in itself by combining retail and entertainment outlets under one vast roof. As in Dubai, the Doha version will have a Continent hypermarket as one of its anchor stores, taking up 17,500 square metres of space. It will also have outlets for leading international brand names, as well as an eight- 12-screen cinema complex and three entertainment facilities, including an ice rink at the entrance to the ground floor level. By mid-February, over 35 per cent of the retail space had been leased.

The shopping mall construction is being implemented on a fast-track basis, with design changes taking place as construction proceeds. Despite work being delayed in January by a site accident, the structure is on target to be finished in July or August. The focus will then switch to installing the building services and starting the interior fit-out work. The client will be responsible for the public area works, while tenants will take care of fitting out their own outlets.

All the work has been designed and supervised by Australia's Meinhardt. Late last year, Kuwait-based Projacs was brought in as construction manager, to co-ordinate the sub-contractors and the fitting-out work.

Construction of the shopping mall will be followed by the start of work on a four-star hotel, with 350 rooms, 50 suites, restaurants and a health club. The developer, Al-Jazi Real Estate, is planning to award the 18- month contract in April. Once the construction contract is let, a final decision will be taken on the company to manage the property. One of the candidates is Holiday Inn, which signed a letter of intent with the client, Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassem al-Thani, at the Middle East & North African economic summit in Doha in late 1997.

The hotelier will also be responsible for managing furnished apartments, which are included in phases three and four. Each phase calls for the construction of two residential and two commercial towers at opposite ends of the shopping mall. The phase three buildings will be linked to the hotel and retail area, while the phase four structures will have direct access to the mall.

The City Centre Qatar project is among the largest private sector projects ever planned in the Gulf real estate market. With a total price tag of $250 million, it is a bold undertaking, made all the more so by the challenging economic climate this year. Nevertheless, the developers are confident that the risks are well worth taking as they seek to change the pattern of shopping in Doha and create a new centre for commercial, tourism and retail activity in Qatar.

Angus Hindley

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