Local property firm Nakheel is considering funding options for its AED2.5bn ($681m) mall development on the Palm Jumeirah.

Unlike the construction of its recently launched residential projects that have funded by offplan sales, funding for the mall will have to be secured from other sources. “We are currently exploring a number of finance options for Nakheel Mall, and the most economical alternative will be pursued to complete the project,” says a Nakheel spokeswoman.

Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah told MEED in February that the mall will be tendered and awarded this year. “We will tender it sometime in April and hopefully we will award by July,” he said.

The development will be split into two main construction packages, one covering the mall, the other for the construction of the hotel tower. The packages will be openly tendered.

Once complete, the mall will have five levels and three basement parking levels with almost 100,000 square metres of retail space, a 1,000 sq m indoor garden and a 180-metre-high viewing deck. The mall will have about 200 shops, including a 4,200 sq m supermarket and two anchor department stores, a nine-screen cinema and six medical clinics.

The five-star hotel will have 200 room and 200 apartment units, this may increase if more floors are added to the tower.

The mall will have 4,000 parking spaces and will also have a station on the Palm monorail, which runs along the trunk of the Palm to Atlantis from the terminus on Beach road. Nakheel and Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority plans to connect the monorail with the under construction Al-Sufouh tram network that will connect to the Dubai Metro network.