Mubarak & Brothers Property and Financial Investments (MBI) plans to issue tender documents in early January for the estimated AED1bn ($272m) Deerfields Town Square project in Abu Dhabi.

MBI plans to build a mixed-use shopping mall development in the Al-Bahia city area outside Abu Dhabi alongside the Sheikh Rashid highway that leads to Dubai. It will serve several of the major new developments planned in the emirate, such as Al-Raha Beach, Yas Island, Khalifa City, the expanded Abu Dhabi International Airport, and Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone at Taweelah (MEED 22:6:09).

The 220,000 square-metre mall will have over 200 retailers including a supermarket and a cinema. The residential, commercial and hospitality buildings will have a total built-up area of about 100,000 square metres.

The lead consultant is the local MR Group which will oversee the conceptual design, coordination and supervision of the contractors. The consultant is working with Canada’s Petroff Partnership Architects on the concept architecture.

In March MBI signed a AED360m term loan facility jointly with EmiratesNBD and National Bank of Abu Dhabi to fund the construction of the project.

Local developer Aldar Properties is building a 296,000 square metre shopping mall on Yas Island. It will have a Ferrari theme park with 20 rides and the world’s fastest rollercoaster.