Dubai’s Emaar Properties has announced plans to build a new hotel and residential project in the Downtown Dubai area, located next to the Burj Khalifa on the expectation of a continued recovery in the emirate’s real estate sector.

Emaar is planning to develop the 63-storey tower that will contain 200 five-star hotel rooms and 542 serviced apartments. The development will be called The Address The Boulevard, and will be operated by Emaar’s own Address hotel chain.

The 340-metre tower will contain studios, and one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments. The project will be funded by offplan sales. The tower was designed by the UK-based architecture firm Atkins.

Speaking at the launch of the new Address development in Dubai on 16 September, Arif Amiri, chief executive officer of Emaar Retail, said the levelling works had been completed and the developer was “on the verge of appointing a contractor”.

Amiri said he was positive about the prospects of Dubai’s real estate market, and said that Emaar has received “strong interest” from global investors for new projects in the emirate’s property sector. “Our sales in the first half of 2012 were five times more than the same period last year,” he added.

The Address project is one of several new property schemes Emaar has planned in Dubai. The developer is planning to build the Panorama at the Views residential project at its The Greens development, which will comprise two mid-rise residential towers containing 224 apartments. Emaar is also building 226 new villas at its Arabian Ranches development.

In March, the developer announced plans to build a cultural district next to its Burj Khalifa development in the Downtown Dubai area.

The cultural area will contain a modern art museum, an opera house and other cultural facilities. The Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District will also contain two hotels, studios and leisure facilities.

The launch of Emaar’s latest new project is a further sign that Dubai’s real estate sector is beginning to recover from the crash of the emirate’s property market in 2009. In addition to Emaar’s new projects, the local Nakheel is another major state-backed developer that has launched new real estate schemes in 2012.

In July, Nakheel awarded two contracts for construction work on retail projects in Dubai, the largest of which was the AED600m ($163m) contract awarded to the local Kele Contracting for the expansion of the Dragon Mart mall.

The developer is also starting to move ahead with several new projects on its Palm Jumeirah development. In April, it awarded the local Dubai Civil Engineering (DCE) the AED194m contract to build the Palma Residences, and in May the developer launched its new Palm Views residential project.