Cityscape Abu Dhabi

This month saw Abu Dhabi's first major real estate show - The Cityscape Abu Dhabi. Being ever so curious to see what the big brother is doing, and finally having a reason to go to Abu Dhabi for the first time in 2 years, I drove up to the new ADNEC to see what it was all about.

I was disappointed. Blame it on the fact that maybe I was blown away by the OTT ATM Dubai stands or perhaps that I just expect a little too much for a first attempt but there was something lacking in Cscape AD.

Ofcourse, there were the impressive Frank Gehry's Guggenheim, Jean Nouvel's Louvre, Zaha Hadid's Performing Arts Centre and Tadao Ando's Maritime Museum. The Desert Island seemed inviting and so did the other REAL island projects, a great initiative by the leadership of AD to make this city a modern architectural wonder. According to Cityscape Abu Dhabi's press release "projects worth US$ 400 Billion were on Show at Cityscape Abu Dhabi"

$400 Billion!?! That figure is supposed to pack a punch so hard to anyone visiting Cityscape AD that one would walk out dazzled eyed with a moronic look of amazement.

But no, that didnt happen to me. Cityscape Abu Dhabi was just a property show with a few stands. I spoke to Jones Lang LaSelle there and asked them how was business and they almost laughed. One of their representatives said they were inundated with sales offers - to them.

On my 2 hour drive back to Dubai with the desert (which may one day be all buildings) on both sides I thought what did this exhibition lack? What does Abu Dhabi lack which Dubai has. And then it dawned - it was the "oomph" factor. Dubai knows how to infuse glamour with real estate and has done it really well. It was also competition. In Dubai a private expatriate developer can feel he/she can make as big and better of a stand than Dubai's state owned developers.

Dubai thrives on competition whereas in AD there is no competition. They probably say they dont need it but competition is what drives innovation and creativity.

In my two hours at Cityscape Abu Dhabi it was quite obvious that they are in no hurry to sell. Cash flow was obviously not a concern. But if Abu Dhabi wants to razzle and dazzle it needs to find its "oomph", wherever and whatever that may be.

The World, Dubai

It's been a while since my last blog, those nice guys at Dubaibuy.info have been revamping their site to give you a bit more of a feel of Dubai with some way cool images.


I used my time off to scout around and see how things are coming along in Dubai. I really do feel privileged to live and work in this fabulous city!


Burj Dubai has grown this past week to surpass all of the tallest buildings in the United States and any day now it will become the worlds tallest building in its own right.


But what I found more fascinating than the Burj, because we've been watching it grow every day anyway, is what has been going on at The World. It's hard to see from my villa which of course isn't on the beach anyway! However, I saw the latest aerial photo of The World new on Dubaibuy.info the other day, so as a self confessed sand sculptress I set out to find out what those innovators at Nakheel have been doing with sand 3 miles out in the Gulf.


The reclamation is almost done, about 94% I hear, so pretty soon now the 300 islands will start to have structures growing on them. It's going to be a really awesome development. While I was digging around in the sand I came across an amazing new satellite shot of The World that I just had to share with you all.


So now The World can be seen on the world from space... it's gotta be confusing for those Martians!!

Enjoy the pic...