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Is It The End For Dubai's World?

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

What in the world is happening to The World? The London Times reports that one of the world's most ambitious building projects, a series of islands in the Arabian Gulf shaped like a map of the Earth, may be in real trouble. We've been following this project for years watching as various people laid claim, or were rumored to have laid claim to country-named islands. Richard Branson even planted a Union Jack on one of the islands as one of his infamous stunts. But now the project is becoming an ocean wasteland, a half-finished project of rocks and sand surrounded by breakwaters. Work has stopped inside the manmade lagoon and instead of neatly defined islands in the shape of recognizable countries and continents, ragged sandy blobs pushed barely above the water remain. The Times article quotes a Dubai property agent as saying that the project has been cancelled, a fact which leaves many investors in the lurch.

Houston Building Projects Suffer In Credit Crunch

Filed under: Real Estate Developments


Just about every city is facing a building challenge these days. The Houston Chronicle recently rounded up a bunch of commercial real estate projects that have either been delayed or put on hold in the past six months. Part of the problem is finding financing. Banks are no longer willing to make big construction loans in this uncertain market, consumers are less likely to buy condos that they see are being riskier investments and it is harder for many to get mortgage approval. For Houston part of the problem is also the falling oil prices. Several of the developments that have been scrapped or delayed are luxury residential buildings as shown in the gallery below.

Work Stops At Vancouver's Ritz-Carlton Tower

Filed under: Real Estate Developments


Construction has stopped at the site for the 58-story Ritz-Carlton tower in Vancouver. The real estate developer, the Holborn Group, says that the work stoppage is not due to the economic crisis but that they are looking at design changes to the structure and attached parkade. The $500 million project is currently just a hole in the ground. Workers have been sent home and the signs announcing the building were removed. The sales office is now only open by appointment. So far 50% of the condo project has been sold (20 stories are planned for the hotel and 38 for the condo units). No word yeti on when the project will resume. The luxury condos have been priced between $2.5 million and $10 million, with the penthouse priced at $28 million.

Tiger Woods Plans Golf Community In Mexico

Filed under: Sports, Real Estate Developments


Tiger Woods has announced his latest golf project, Punta Brava, a private golf and ocean club community on the Baja Peninsula south of Ensenada, Mexico about 40 minutes south of San Diego. Punta Brava sits on the tip of a peninsula that extends seven miles into the Pacific Ocean making for beautiful views on the planned 18-hole par 70 oceanfront course. The project also includes 40 estates lots ranging from three-quarter to three acres and priced between $3 million and $12 million, 30 Individual-own villa residences of 4,500 to 7,000 square feet, 60 Partnership villas of 4,500 to 6,500 square feet and a 20-villa private hotel for residents and their guests. There will also be a private clubhouse, an ocean club, a wellness spa and multiple dining venues. Construction is set to begin early next year with completion by 2011. it's a gorgeous spot but the prices seem a bit ambitious for what used to be an area best known for spring break on the cheap for California college students. He's hardly alone though, Trump has a project nearby which has been selling well.

Sexy Spokesmodel Pushes Condo Contest

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

There are many creative ways to sell condos in these desperate times. I've seen developers offer up free cars, trips, bottles of wine, resale guarantees and yes, I've seen plenty of contests but this is the first one I've seen with a spokesmodel. A developer in Canton, Massachusetts has had some trouble selling their Canton Park condo complex so they are giving away one in a $50-per-entry contest with YouTube videos hosted by the lovely Gisele Sterling in a bikini.

The unit is worth $235,000 and to win the free condo, you'll have to submit the best written essay or YouTube video on one of four topics: why you are Boston's biggest sports fan, your most embarrassing moment, what super power you wish you had, or a showcase of your or your pet's unique talents. The contest hopes not only to get rid of one unit but hopefully to attract attention to the complex so others sell too. It got my attention. Entrants have until September 30 to enter the contest.

[via Boston Herald]

Pronghorn Club

Filed under: Real Estate Developments


Pronghorn is a large golf-based community being created in Bend, Oregon. The community includes side-by-side Jack Nicklaus Signature and Tom Fazio Championship golf courses and the Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf at Pronghorn which offers golf instruction as well as the Pronghorn 360: a customized holistic wellness approach to total game improvement. The development is anchored by a huge 55,000-square-foot clubhouse. The development is 640 acres total and is surrounded by 20,000 acres of protected federal land. The community offers homesites, homes like the one above which top at just under $3.5 million, and fractional ownership options that start under $200,000.

Trump Heads To Baja

Filed under: Estates, Journeys

Just call him Señor Trump. Donald Trump and Irongate are building a large new resort, Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico, a co-tel project located in North Baja, Mexico just 20 minutes from San Diego. It's big news because it represents the first condo-hotel project to hit the Baja peninsula. The large hotel will include the type of luxuries usually found in Cabo San Lucas but often in short supply further up the peninsula such as owner's concierge, a lobby bar & lounge, a pool house bar & café and a fine dining restaurant, an infinity edge resort pool, and lap and family pools, a spa, a fitness center, tennis courts, and walking trails. Prices for the studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom residences will start in the mid-$200s and construction is scheduled to begin in late 2006 with the completion of the first tower scheduled for late 2008. It's not the first upscale resort we have seen planned for the area but once the Trump rolls into town an area officially loses its chance to remain relatively undiscovered.

Kessler Woods

Filed under: Estates

Urban design is coming to Texas in the form of Kessler Woods, a development of thirty homes located in Oak Cliff, four miles southwest of Dallas. The contemporary gated development features designs inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra.The entire development will be a monument to midcentury modern, a big difference from the rather bland attempts at design that populate many developments. The development has access to the 12 Hill Nature Center and views of the Dallas skyline. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News this winter, all 11 homes in the first phase have been sold out. The houses sell for between $495,000 to $2 million. 

Greg Norman Plans South African Development

Filed under: Estates

Golfer Greg Norman is creating quite the empire. He has his own wine, designs golf courses and has put his name on a number of real estate projects in the U.S. and his native Australia. Now Norman and development company Medallist are developing a new community south of Johannesburg in South Africa. The development is called the Eye of Africa and will include a golf course, 2000 residential units and a club house, retail center, stores, restaurants and convenience shopping. Norman was in Johannesburg recently and promised that the development will try to do the least bit of damage to the environment.


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