King Abdullah Financial District l U/C l 80 Towers l Mixed-Use

[tyt2000]

They just posted the new banners last week.

Here are some pics I took today from Takhassussi street:

(Excuse the poor quality, they're taken with a mobile)






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Provided by:
http://thameraltassan.com

[Aliya]

woah... looks awesome

[Saudi guy]

cool it's like museum!

[gohorns]

isnt it too dense? where are the open spaces and roads? also, wouldnt a grid system be better cuz it's like an entire new downtown? just wondering..

maybe the model isnt 100% accurate and there'll be more breathing room..

[huit]

Thanks for the pictures!
That place (plot) doesn't look as big in person as it does in the rendering, I tell ya.

[Saudi Dunes]

MARLTON, N.J. & RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hill International (Nasdaq:HINT - News), the worldwide construction consulting firm, announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Public Pension Agency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide project management services during the design and construction of the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The five-year contract has an estimated value to Hill of approximately SAR 42.6 million ($11.4 million).
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The King Abdullah Financial District is anticipated to be the biggest financial district in the Middle East and a strategic development for the city of Riyadh. The site is approximately 1.6 million square meters (17.2 million square feet) and the development is expected to have floor space of over 3.0 million square meters (32.3 million square feet). The Financial District is expected to be the headquarters for the Capital Market Authority, the Tadawul Stock Exchange and other major financial institutions, as well as a location for financial service providers such as accountants, auditors, lawyers, analysts, rating agencies, consultants and technology providers. The anticipated cost of the development is approximately SAR 29.0 billion ($7.8 billion).

"The King Abdullah Financial District will be a state-of-the-art center for doing business and facilitating investment in the Kingdom and throughout the Middle East," said Raouf S. Ghali, President of Hill's Project Management Group (International). "Hill is honored to have been chosen to manage the design and construction of such an important development," Ghali added.

Hill International, with 1,500 employees in 70 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management, and construction claims services. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the 10th largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, please visit our website at www.hillintl.com.

[Sdare]

Business
The King Abdullah Financial District will house the large community of professionals working within the financial sector and related industries, hosting the head quarters of the Capital Market Authority, the Stock Exchange, banks, financial institutions and other service providers such as accountants, auditors, lawyers, analysts, rating agencies, consultants, and IT providers.
The King Abdullah Financial District provides the next generation of development and will ensure the sustained dominance of Saudi Arabia as the largest economy and financial centre within the region



The Grand Mosque
Serving the King Abdullah Financial District and the community.



Education
The King Abdullah Financial Academy will provide training and education for those wishing to enter and those working within the financial sector giving everyone the opportunity to enhance their skills and develop their full potential



btw, why we didn't see the KAFD's participation in those real estate exhibitions?

[Saudi guy]

why it's take long time to built it!

[Sdare]

everything in this country takes long time

[Riyadhi]

haha yes I agree..

I wonder if they started the actual construction... I remeber they started the site preparation few months ago!

[huit]

nope, no sign of ANY kind of construction on the site.

[LeB.Fr]

I've been passing near the huge plot all last week but i didn't see any activity...or maybe is it too early for the construction start?

[Kuwaiti]

This project stinks. It looks so damn ugly. Come on guys, Saudi Arabia has alot of potential, it could practically kill all the other Gulf economies. But this project is an insult to Saudis.

[Riyadhi]

but see, we don't want to kill the economies of our brothers

[Kuwaiti]

^lol, but one day you will. saudi is like a sleeping giant ready to screw us in the back someday.

[*UofT*]

Originally Posted by Kuwaiti

^lol, but one day you will. saudi is like a sleeping giant ready to screw us in the back someday.

KAEC will be a success no doubt.

[Riyadhi]

I wonder what is the status on the ground!
Has anyone been in that area lately?

[XP]

Originally Posted by *UofT*

KAEC will be a success no doubt.

I doubt. Though, I wish I'm wrong.
Anyone can answer the why?

[gohorns]

it's natural for anyone to have doubts about KAEC...because it really doesn't make sense in many ways..

It's being constructed in an area that is not densely populated..so the obvious concern is whether there will be enough people (even with people migrating from other areas) to populate the city.

And migrating isn't that easy. People cannot just pack their bags and head to KAEC, which is why if this was further south (i.e. closer to jeddah) it would have better chances. Yes, it might provide higher standards of living and it might be new, glitzy, or whatever...but are people prepared to leave the jobs and go to KAEC? Maybe there will be a lot of job opportunities in KAEC but...really if I have a secure well-paid job, why would I really want to move somewhere so far that I'll have to leave the job? It's the same with people with children. Would people want to pull their kids out of school and head for a place without established schools? What about foreigners with kids in foreign schools...such as the schools run by the embassies?

In many ways, this whole thing could be a disaster waiting to happen. My hope is that they've thought about all this...and will develop the city slowly and in phases so it doesn't collapse if people don't more there right away....so people can have a few years to prepare (find jobs/schools/residence) to move to the city...

A project of this magnitude (a la dubai) is pretty crazy...but it's worked for dubai because the projects there allowed people to have everything else stable as they moved to new residences/offices. Hence, my feeling is that it would have worked better if it was closer to Jeddah...which would allow people to keep everything else stable as they relocated their residences and/or offices. Anyway, let's see how it goes

Oh..I realize this isn't the KAEC thread...but since we started discussing KAEC.....sorry

[huit]

Originally Posted by Riyadhi

I wonder what is the status on the ground!
Has anyone been in that area lately?

I went past it just couple of days back... and as you might've expected, there is absolutely no sign of any construction.