If you have ever been to the highbrow Downtown Dubai, you will appreciate the repertoire of high-end properties and architectural masterpieces the Emaar Group, the developer, is offering.
Foremost among the properties are The Address branded hotels. The four hotels – The Address Downtown Dubai, The Address Dubai Mall, The Address Dubai Marina and The Address Montgomerie Dubai – offer a bouquet of unique lifestyle experiences for business and leisure travellers.
The Address Downtown Dubai (a 63-floor hotel offering 196 guest rooms and suites as well as 625 serviced apartments), the first and flagship hotel opened in 2008 to strong response and patronage globally. Since then, The Address hotel brand has been expanding across United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kenya and now in Nigeria.
Of course, Emaar Group, the owners of The Address Hotel, is seeking to change Abuja landscape with the many projects it is bringing to the table in Nigeria through the recent flag-off of The Address Residence in the Abuja Centenary City.
Foremost among The Address Residence projects in the Centenary City is The Address Abuja, a five-star hotel offering a new concept in hospitality business in Nigeria.
The five-star hotel developed by Eagle Hills and serviced by The Address Hotel and Resorts, features over 200 hotel rooms and 51 suites. Other amenities include: spa and wellness centre, business centre with nine meeting rooms, executive club, ballroom, F&B centre with international signature restaurants, infinity pool, and larges garden area.
Besides the hotel, The Abuja Residence also features five residential buildings with 244 serviced apartments ranging from 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms, luxury villas with 4 to 9 bedrooms and between 2 to 6 living rooms, between 6 to 13 bathrooms, modern shopping mall; said to be the biggest in Africa, an 80-storey building expected to be the tallest building in Africa among other infrastructure and residential offerings.
However, the architectural façade of the hotel provides a striking design while responding sensibly to the environmental context to ensure the comfort of residents, and creating tranquil oasis for secluded privacy. HKS, the architectural firm that designed the hotel, and Hirsch Bedner Associates London, the designer of the luxury interior of the hotel, both had only elegance and luxury in mind.
With breathtaking views of rolling hills and nature, the hotel will be the most sought-after in Abuja. It is also located on the edge of the land allowing unobstructed views, while breathtaking by day with amazing views of the city and equally stunning at night.
The Address Residence hosting the hotel is 30 minutes away from the Abuja city centre and 10 minutes away from the airport.
The project, executed in the Abuja Centenary City and promoted by Eagle Hills, a UAE-based investment company in partnership with the Abuja Centenary City, is expected to be completed within the 10 years time framework of the centenary city project.
Speaking recently during an interview at The Address Dubai Downtown Hotel in Dubai, Mohamed Alabbar, chairman, Emaar Properties, disclosed that The Address Abuja embodied a new concept in hospitality and residential living with serviced villas and apartments.
The Abuja hotel is expected to open by 2018, and would be the flagship of The Address hotel brand in Nigeria and West Africa. Its acceptance in Abuja, according to Alabbar, would pave way for further investments and expansion of The Address brand in other parts of the country starting from Lagos.
“Downtown Dubai, our foremost property development in Dubai hosting Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, Dubai Mall, Dubai Fountain, Burj Khalifa Residence, Armani Residence, The Address Downtown Hotel, The Address Dubai Mall Hotel among other properties, contributes 4 percent of Dubai’s GDP, and we want to do something in that line with The Address Residence in the Abuja Centenary City,” the chairman said.
Emaar Properties, a public joint stock company listed on the Dubai Financial Market as DFM: EMAAR, is funding a major part of the project. It also welcomes partnerships in delivering the huge infrastructure masterpiece hoped to change the Abuja landscape with a more international appeal and conveniences.
Explaining the rationale behind the company’s choice of Nigeria, Alabbar cited a steady growing middle class, good return on investment, pressure on infrastructure by a growing population, recent rating of Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, its emerging market status and other growth forecasts as reasons for the investment.
The chairman is optimistic of success in the Nigerian project because of the company’s success in 36 markets with similar economic realities.
Explaining the phases of the development of the Abuja project, Philippe Zuber, chief operating officer, Emaar Hospitality Group, noted that while the residence building is the first phase, the five-star would be coming afterwards and would be opened to the public by 2018.
OBINNA EMELIKE
