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 Hydra
Properties, a developer based in Abu Dhabi, is
in talks with the New York-based property
behemoth Trump Organisation to build a mixed-use
residential and hotel tower on Reem Island, says
Hydra’s chief executive.
Negotiations are ongoing but a memorandum of
understanding or a letter of intent may be
signed and announced next week.
“We are finalising the last touches and we hope
that we can sign an agreement,” said Dr Sulaiman
al Fahim, the chief executive of Hydra
Properties.
Dr Fahim would not divulge any details about the
specification of the tower, such as its height,
its number of apartments or its estimated cost,
saying only that “it’s a huge tower, not a
normal tower”. “With Trump we don’t do small
towers,” he added.
One of the sticking points in negotiations, said
Dr Fahim, was the proposed name of the
development. “Trump always insists on having the
Trump name alone, but I’m insisting on having
Trump next to Hydra... because I feel that Hydra
is not less than Trump,” he said.
The two developers held talks in late May in Abu
Dhabi to explore property and business
opportunities within the emirate.
Mr Trump has already unveiled plans for his
first project in the UAE, Trump International
Hotel & Tower on Palm Jumeirah. The Dh4 billion
(US$1.1bn) development in Dubai will contain 399
units within a residential tower, as well as a
hotel component.
Nakheel, a property developer wholly owned by an
investment fund of the Dubai Government, will
own the hotel component of the building, which
will be managed by Trump Organisation.
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