British Expats - 'Slight' change in plans at JBR....

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- - 'Slight' change in plans at JBR.... (https://britishexpats.com/forum/sand-pit-116/slight-change-plans-jbr-536969/)

'Slight' change in plans at JBR....

They're not building the beach park anymore. Instead of the beach park they're building a car park.

So you cannot even trust established developers to stick to plans anymore:blink:

QUOTE (from the JBR community forum)

I haven't been on this forum before but I own apartments in JBR which are rented so I have a vested interest in this topic, bearing in mind that this investment was sold to me as living in a 'Beach Lifestyle'.

Some residents, about 16 in total, were invited to a 'Focus Group' meeting last night (12th May) at the new JBR offices in Knowledge Village. The speaker was attracting feedback about JBR in general and about another, yet to be released, Dubai Properties venture. Part of the forum included questions from residents in relation to the Gyms and the Beach Park and Beach Clubs. The speaker was reluctant to discuss the issues but was eventually forced to as the invited audience were becoming quite angry at his reluctance.

He admitted that the plans for the Beach Park had changed totally and there was now going to be a car park between the Hilton and Sheraton hotels apart from the areas allocated to the hotels which would be beach clubs. There will apparantly be a narrow strip of beach park but it would be open to members of the public and not just residents. Obviously the focus group were in uproar about this news however the speaker went on to suggest that residents would still have access to the public beach or would be able to join one of the hotel's beach clubs albeit they would have to pay beach club membership.

He also stated that the promised 7 gyms were not being built and gave his reason as being dangerous because of traffic fumes. I don't quite see the validity of that but don't shoot the messenger! The focus group were then informed that there would now be only two gyms built and that they would be at the Shams end of the development.

As I see it this is extremely bad news for both JBR residents and owners alike, the residents as they are not receiving what has been promised to them by landlords albeit in good faith, and owners as there is bound to be a knock-down effect on end-use prices of apartments, after all who wants to have a view of a car park!

This kind of news does absolutely nothing for the reputation of Dubai Properties and can only make future investors reluctant to place their cash into a market where developers are able to change core features of a development at a whim.

Further, once it was established that the beach park (the small amount that is left on the side of the car park) would be accessible to the public, the participants asked who would be paying for the maintenance of the beach park. The clear answer back to the participants was "the public beach park maintenance will be included in the JBR maintenance fee". Even the presenter appeared to be embarrassed to be saying this ... but that is clearly what was said.

UNQUOTE