Business & Money | Tuesday 7 April, 2015 8:14 am |

Cityscape Jeddah 2015 — Jeddah urban development and real estate investment event — entered its second day on Monday, with most of the exhibitors finding their participation “successful and rewarding” and the organizers announcing the winners of this year’s Cityscape Awards.
The awards ceremony was attended by a number of developers, architects and investors, as well as many dignitaries, who presented distinguished projects that clamored for the five awards — for commercial and multipurpose projects, community and culture, retail projects, and both future and built residential projects.
Mohammed Al-Aradi, regional director, HMG, said: “We are the first real estate company in the region that provides fully furnished villas in the United States, rented and managed by HMG.”
He told Arab News: “We have different projects in Florida, including land sales and development, and flats and villas.”
Al-Aradi said Cityscaspe is a wonderful show, which has a lot of clientele looking for different investment opportunities in Europe and the United States.
Peter Sullivan, executive, sales at Select Group, said: “It is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our products to the Saudi market. Generally Saudis are the largest purchasers of our properties in Dubai.”
He said: “It was key for us as a company to expand our brand and allow Saudis to understand the quality of product Select Group delivers.”
Kashif Ansari, CEO of International Quality Investments (IQI), said: “IQI is a global advisory firm. Our focus is on real estate. We have clientele from the GCC and we do cater to our clients.”
Rehan Beg, partner, Elite City Real Estate, Dubai, said: “There are lots of opportunities in the Saudi real estate sector. There are many developers in the Kingdom. What we are offering here is an additional home in Dubai for Saudis.”
He added that there are flats available for investment or for their own use in Dubai.
At the Cityscape awards, the commercial and multipurpose award went to the Masharef Community Project being developed by Kinan Real Estate.
“We are proud to have won the Cityscape award for retail projects,” said Rayyan Ghazi Hindi, senior manager of marketing at the company.
Al-Zahra 568 project, which was developed by Lifestyle Developers, won the existing housing projects award.
“We are pressing on with our efforts to improve the standard of living through high quality communities that give home owners stylish housing at affordable prices, especially to young Arabs,” said Sultan Batterjee, CEO of Lifestyle Developers.
Ewaan’s Al-Fareeda residential project won the award for future residential project.
Nabhan Al-Hussami, director of marketing and sales at Ewaan, said: “This award really highlights Al Fareeda as a major project that will change the landscape of northern Jeddah, and make it home to world-class standards of life, work and recreation, as the area is poised to become home to a new, lively community that makes for a life of luxury to citizens.”
Riyad Ahmed Al-Thagafi, CEO of Ewaan, said: “We are proud of this win, which greatly underlines the status of Al-Fareeda, a model housing project through which we answer the call of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and his government for the private sector to play a pioneering role in fulfilling the growing demand for affordable housing in the Kingdom.”
In the entertainment and hospitality category, the prize went to SEDCO’s Galleria project. Khalid Al-Jamjoom, the company’s CEO, expressed his happiness with the high-profile award, saying that when finished, Galleria will not only be one of Jeddah’s most prominent landmarks, but the place to be for style and fashion lovers, and will offer unsurpassed levels of hospitality in the GCC.
Ewaan’s Al-Fareeda project also earned the company the award for the culture and community category.
“This award is a medal of honor,” said Abdullah Al-Khoraiji, vice president of Suleiman Abdullah Al-Khoraji Company, the architectural consultancy for the project.
One of the most important projects at the event is the 1.6 million sqm Sumou Suburb, the first stage of the Makkah Gateway Development Project. The project, claimed to be the first of its kind in the Kingdom, is being developed through a partnership between Makkah Gateway and Sumou Holding, and is scheduled to be completed in 11 stages over five years.
The Sumou Suburb comprises some 6,000 apartments and villas of various sizes and stunning designs. There will be commercial, administrative and residential structures along the project’s three main roads, in addition to 11 mosques and a number of schools and medical facilities, making it a comprehensive community that will provide a great lifestyle for Saudis.
The first stage of the project is scheduled to commence in three months, for a scheduled finish in 2020. Infrastructure and road work for the first stage is already under way.
The three-day Cityscape Jeddah ends Tuesday.