Major projects set to revitalise Sharjah's retail and residential offerings

The next few years are scheduled to see a range of major mixed-use real estate projects come on-line in the emirate, with these likely to transform its built landscape and global appeal for investors and visitors alike.

One of the largest is the Dh25bn ($6.8bn), 60m-sq-feet Sharjah Waterfront City, which includes eight artificial islands, a series of canals, a brace of interconnecting bridges and a Dh220m ($59.9m) electricity substation that will supply 700 MW of power to the city’s residents. With construction started on 326 villas in February 2018, project developer Sharjah Oasis Real Estate announced that 30% of these had already been sold for between Dh2.5m ($680,000) and Dh8m ($2.2m).

Phase one of the project includes the development of plots on nearby Sun Island, as well as a 24-tower central business district, with 4.5m sq feet under construction at a cost of Dh9.5bn ($2.6bn). Ultimately, there will be 1500 villas and 65 mid-rise buildings, with these set to be rolled out over a total of six phases.

Central Development

The Dh24bn ($6.5bn), 2.2-sq-km Aljada development is taking shape in the heart of Sharjah City. In January 2018 developer ARADA awarded Jacobs Engineering the design contract for the Dh1.2bn ($327m) infrastructure project and Zaha Hadid Architects the design contract for its 1.9m-sq-feet Central Hub. This includes three hotels under Emaar Hospitality Group’s Address Hotels + Resorts, Vida Hotels and Resorts and Rove Hotel Brands following collaboration between Emaar Hospitality and ARADA.

Set to break ground in May 2018, phase one of Aljada is due to be complete by the end of the same year, phase two in the fourth quarter of 2019 and the final phase is estimated to be finished in 2025. The first homeowners are to move in by the end of 2019, with the number of residents eventually expected to reach 70,000. Demand for property is already high, according to ARADA, which sold all 115 units of the project’s Areej 5 apartment block in a single day in November 2017, setting a sales record for the emirate. At that point, around 600 units had been sold since the development was unveiled in September 2017, with 102 sales made on the first day.

New Residences

In early 2018 the final cluster of homes was released in the Al Zahia planned community. Located on the outskirts of Sharjah City, the multi-phase development welcomed 250 families to its first neighbourhood, Al Jouri. Al Zahia is set to house 12,000 people on final completion in 2020. The Alef Group launched its Dh3bn ($817m) Al Mamsha project in Sharjah City in September 2017, with 33 mixed use buildings in its Zone 1, with apartments, retail and hospitality outlets and offices accessible on foot. In January 2018, the developer announced that 750 residential units in its first and second phases had been sold.

Another project under way is the 25m-sq-feet, Dh2bn ($544m), five-zone Tilal City, consisting of residential, retail and office space, parks, schools and community centres. A joint venture between Sharjah Asset Management Holding and Eskan Real Estate Development, it was announced in March 2018 that two more of its zones were open for sales.

Retail Projects

Meanwhile, Maryam Island, Kalba Waterfront, and Palace Al Khan are under joint development by the privately owned Abu Dhabi-based Eagle Hills real estate company and the state-owned Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), with a combined worth of Dh2.7bn ($735m).

Maryam Island, valued at Dh2.4bn ($653m), will spread across 460,000 sq metres of waterfront between Sharjah City’s Downtown and the Al Khan Lagoon, with 1890 low-rise luxury apartments and villas joined by 600 four- and five-star hotel rooms and a 100-unit retail and entertainment facility.

The Kalba Waterfront mall will have a gross floor area of 17,000 sq metres, capacity for 86 outlets and is located within the Kalba Eco-Tourism project on the Indian Ocean coast. Palace Al Khan is a Dh120m ($32.7m), 87-room, five-star hotel. All three projects are expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2020.