Bahrain Bay

An artists impression of Bahrain Bay

Bahrain Bay is a waterfront real estate development situated on the north coastline of Manama in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Created from reclaimed land, the $2.5 billion project has been designed to provide residential, commercial, retail, tourism, and community facilities and public amenities. It includes three anchor developments – Arcapita Bank global headquarters, Raffles City, and the Kingdom of Bahrain’s first Four Seasons hotel. The project was launched in 2006 and is scheduled for a multiphase completion with initial phases to start being completed from 2012.

Description

Bahrain Bay map overview

Created by the reclamation of three islands – the north island, south island, and the Four Seasons central island – the development creates an inner harbor adjacent to the northern corniche of the Manama. It is connected to the mainland by two multi-lane causeways, and encircled by a new ring road called the North Manama Causeway. The project has a total reclaimed area of approximately 500,000m². The project uses 3.3 km of quay wall, and 4 km of vehicular roads. As part of the infrastructure, the project has built four 66kV primary substations, five 11kV substations, two potable water reservoirs, and two sewerage pumping stations.

Planning

Bahrain Bay's sold land parcels (as of September 2011)

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill created the plan for the development. Having had only minor revisions since its inception the plan is strictly enforced to all third party developers, ensuring that the final project has a coherent aesthetic and a consistent standard of quality.

Architecturally, the development is based around concentric circles emanating from the central Four Seasons island, aligned so as to give the highest amount of visibility from each site. The project is one of the first in the region to have a full-time Technical Interface Office (TIO), which manages all third party developers planning applications and reviews, advises, and judges compliance to the master plan, as well as providing a government liaison service to manage all permissions and licensing.

Anchor Developments

There are three Anchor Developments to Bahrain Bay which form the cornerstones of the project:

Arcapita Bank

Arcapita Bank – an international investment bank and majority shareholder behind the project – has located their global corporate headquarters at Bahrain Bay.^[1]

Raffles City

Designed by architect Rafael Vinoly, the Raffles City project is a collection of exclusive residences and retail spaces.^[2]

Four Season Hotel

The centre-piece of Bahrain Bay is a Four Seasons hotel. It will be the first Four Seasons hotel in the Kingdom of Bahrain.^[3]

International Investors

In addition to the three anchor developments, the list of third-party developers who have purchased land in the project include:

Al Baraka Banking Group – A global Islamic banking institution.^[4]

Cooperation Investment House – A Bahrain-based integrated real-estate developer; building a 47-storey commercial tower.

Salhia Real Estate – A Kuwait-based real estate company specializing in high-end commercial property development.^[5]

Guidance Financial Group – An international finance firm dedicated to Sharia-compliant products and services; constructing a 240-room hotel complex set to host the 'Shaza' five-star hotel chain.^[6]

Ajmera Mayfair Realty Group – An India-based real estate firm; constructing a residential tower at Bahrain Bay.^[7]

Khaleej Capita – A Qatar-based investor is building a 45-storey mixed-use tower including a leading hotel global brand name.

Damac – A Dubai-based real estate developer of private, residential, leisure and commercial projects; developing a residential tower project at Bahrain Bay.^[8]

Arjaan Rotana – A hotel and serviced apartments chain with over 70 properties across the Middle East; bringing their Arjaan serviced apartment brand to Bahrain Bay.^[9]

Ossis Property Developers – A Bahrain-based real estate developer; developing a flagship commercial and residential twin-tower project.

Other investors who are still finalising the details of their individuals projects include: Al Jomaih Investments; Al Imtiaz; Al Oula; and Nama Real Estate.

Awards

Bahrain Bay has won several awards since its inception, including two Arabian Commercial Property Awards in association with Bloomberg Television for Best Mixed Use Development Arabia and Best Mixed Use Development Bahrain in 2010.^[10] That year the project went on to be nominated in the Best Mixed-Use development global category. It has also been awarded the International Arch of Europe by Business Initiative Directions in 2007, and was nominated in the Master Plan Award category of the 2011 Cityscape Global Awards.^[11]

Progress

The state of progress of Bahrain Bay as of September 2011

As of October 2011, the project had completed all infrastructure construction, including full reclamation, all quay walls, road networks, electrical networks, water, sewage and irrigation networks, site-wide district cooling networks to all land parcels, and telecommunication cabling. Connectivity to the mainland has been created with the construction of the North Manama Causeway, which is scheduled for completion in 2012. There are three third party developers on site and constructing their respective projects.

References

External links

www.bahrainbay.com

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