Sahara Centre plans city within a city in Sharjah
Staff Report

http://www.gulfnews.com/images/06/11/19/20_bz_sahara_city_4.jpg
The Sahara City project will involve the construction of seven towers ranging in height from 27 to 33 floors and expanding Sharjah's largest mall by 60 per cent.

Dubai: Owners of Sahara Centre yesterday announced plans to invest Dh4 billion to double the size of Sharjah's landmark shopping mall and create a whole new 'city within a city'.

It is expected to be the largest project carried out in Sharjah over the next five years and provide a major boost to the emirate's plans to increase tourism and attract further investment.

As well as increasing the size of the largest mall in Sharjah by 60 per cent to 1.8 million square feet, the Sahara City project will see the construction of seven towers ranging in height from 27 to 33 floors, nearly half a million square feet of new office space, 23 floors of parking and a 27-floor hotel.

"This is a very significant investment by the owners of Al Nahda Real Estate and trading, and reflects our commitment to the UAE and Sharjah in particular," said Al Nahda Real Estate Managing Director Jean Pierre Nammour.

"It will ensure that Sahara Centre will remain one of the leading malls in the UAE offering a complete shopping and entertainment experience. The project includes expanding the ground, first and second floors of the mall by half a million square feet in order to meet the current demand for retail space in Sahara Centre and allow exciting new international brands to become part of the Sahara Centre experience. It will also enable Sahara Centre's signature attraction Adventureland to double in size."

Above the mall will be a hotel tower offering 258 serviced suites and three new residential towers with more than 1,000 apartments - consisting of both two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.

In order to cope with the increased number of visitors and the residents of Sahara City, parking spaces in and around the mall will more than quadruple in number to nearly 4,500. The extensive building project will be located in the vacant lot near the Marks and Spencer side of Sahara Centre.

Other components of the Sahara City developments include three other towers, the West Gate Twin Towers and the North Gate Tower.

The West Gate Twin Towers, to be located on the Debenhams side of Sahara Centre, will have 14 floors for offices, 20 residential floors with 200 apartments, and a multi-storey car park of 1,000 parking spaces.

The North Gate Tower, containing a further 220 apartments is planned opposite Sahara Centre, and include a new Dh3 million pedestrian bridge.

The picture looks blekh http://bbs.roddenberry.com/images/smilies/YAWN.gif

by the way .. the gray towers are part of the sahara city ... one of them is on the other side of the raod.

A model of the project being dispalyed at the sahara centre.Just like the rest of sharjah...building the maximum towers in the minimum space available. :)

From front
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/9383/dscn0225lu8.jpg

From back
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6891/dscn0222dl1.jpg

right side buildings
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/21/dscn0223fh3.jpg

Left side buildings
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/7334/dscn0224qr1.jpg

RTA should do something in that area before a disaster coming through many projects... without main road

The project has not even started yet...besides its not rta's headache ...
sharjah municipality is resposible for roads in that area..and they suck at building roads.

>>>>>>>>

double post

that's mean alot of trouble....they should at least one interchange area between dubai n sharjah (near alnahda bridge)...to release some crowdin at early morning ...

The project has not even started yet...besides its not rta's headache ...
sharjah municipality is resposible for roads in that area..and they suck at building roads.

No,the project already started at both sides of Saharamall.Iamnot yet sure about the tower on the opposite side of the road. All the towers coming at this side of Nahda area will end up creating major congestion in the road. There are more than 40 towers under construction.

The buildings that have been constructed r not part of the sahara city.The project will be constructed on the open car parks on either ends of the existing sahara centre.the last time i went there ...no consrucion on these plots , but surrounding areas were teeming with towers.

No,the project already started at both sides of Saharamall.Iamnot yet sure about the tower on the opposite side of the road. All the towers coming at this side of Nahda area will end up creating major congestion in the road. There are more than 40 towers under construction.

The towers under construction r not a part of saharacity...the project will be constructed on the open car parks on either ends of the existing sahara centre.
And last time i went there i saw no activity on these plots ...the surrounding area though was teeming up with towers...will definately give headaches in future..:bash:

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/3897/saharacityplotstd9.jpg

The towers under construction r not a part of saharacity...the project will be constructed on the open car parks on either ends of the existing sahara centre.
And last time i went there i saw no activity on these plots ...the surrounding area though was teeming up with towers...will definately give headaches in future..:bash:

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/3897/saharacityplotstd9.jpg

I checked again today and I can reconfirm that construction has indeed started.In one of the previous car parks,piling is underway.At the other side construction is furthere more than in the picture above.

U r right man.....i dont know how i missed it...there is huge construction carried out to the rigth of the mall....the other plot seemed relatively silent :)

Al Nahda Real Estate reviews Dh6 billion Sahara City project

on Sunday, March 15, 2009

Al Nahda Real Estate, the owner of Sahara Centre, is studying the market on whether it would proceed with the Dh6bn Sahara City project, Emirates Business has learned.

The new project will be built next to the Sahara Mall. According to Jean Pierre Nammour, Managing Director, Al Nahda Real Estate, the company is proceeding with the retail expansion in the eastern part but is still to decide on the other aspects of the city.

"We have instructed our architects and engineers to tell us at which date we have to decide whether to proceed with the towers above the east retail expansion," he said. "If they say in 14 months we have to make a decision because that is when the construction reaches its critical point. Then in 14 months we have to decide whether we are going to proceed with the towers or not."

"At that point, we will look at the then current situation and assess how the future would be. If we see the future is rosier than it is today we will proceed," he said.

The project is set to more than double the size of Sharjah's largest shopping mall and will create a township that will encompass a series of components including underground parking areas, three levels of retail and five levels of parking topped by four residential towers on the eastern side; and a multi-storey underground and above-ground parking and a luxury residential tower on the Northern side.

On the western side, there will be two underground multi-storey car parks, two floors of retail, four floors of parking and four towers (two residential, one office block and one serviced apartment).

Nammour said the three levels of retail on the eastern side is already 85 per cent pre-let and would be completed by September 2010.

"The expansion would result in a single seamless looking mall," he said. "A first-time shopper entering by September 2010 wouldn't know there is a new mall and an old mall. Currently, the mall is 408 metres long by 95 metres wide. When the eastern expansion is completed, it'll be 608 metres long by 95 metres wide."

The whole eastern expansion would cost Dh1.4bn but only Dh600m for the retail side has been secured. Al Nahda Real Estate in June last year signed a Dh600 million Ijara contract with Emirates Islamic Bank,Dubai Islamic Bank (mandated lead arrangers), Emirates Bank, HSBC Middle East, Commercial Bank of Dubai (lead arrangers), Sharjah Islamic Bank and Bank Muscat International (managers).

New rates are being negotiated with the banks due to the liquidity crisis.

"We are not going to go for what they are asking for because what they are asking for will cost us another Dh57m," Nammour said. "The ideal rate we want is Eibor plus 2. The interest rates when we took it was Eibor 1.85 per cent."

http://business24-7.ae/Articles/2009/3/Pages/03152009_b715037a8fcd45db8dacdffb4d51587c.aspx