IN THE first new foreign-bank debt for a Dubai hotel development since the downturn, IFA Hotels & Resorts (IFAHR) has secured financing of $115 million for its Fairmont Palm Jumeirah hotel project through Standard Chartered Bank indicating a return of confidence in the Dubai real estate development sector.
The deal will allow IFA to complete the project by the first quarter of 2012.
The announcement came as a surprise to an industry which had been told debt funding was largely unavailable and Joe Sita, president of IFA HI, which leads IFAHR’s acquisitions and oversees its operational hospitality assets, said: “This is the first new foreign-bank funding for a Dubai hotel real estate development we have seen in a very long time. It is evidence of renewed confidence in the region and the industry and confirmation of ongoing confidence in the IFA Group and its projects on the Palm Jumeirah.”
He added: “As the largest foreign investor on the Palm Jumeirah we have been committed to realising Dubai’s vision for the island as the pre-eminent location in Dubai since our initial investment in 2003. We have a huge footprint across the trunk as well as a 200,000-sq-m plot on the crescent where we are building the Kingdom of Sheba. The company has been integral to the island’s development and we look forward to contributing even further with the completion of the Fairmont Palm Jumeirah hotel.”
Off the island, the company is also putting the finishing touches on Laguna Tower Dubai – a mixed-use tower that includes the Mövenpick Hotel & Residence Jumeirah Lakes Towers, hotel condominiums, a private residence club and loft and duplex apartments.