Nakheel awards $37mn Dragon City hotel contract

Nakheel’s second hotel at Dubai’s Dragon City moved a step closer today with a construction contract worth AED 136mn ($37mn) handed to Al Ghurair Contracting and Engineering Works.

With a total project value of AED 176mn, the 304-room Premier Inn is one of 16 hotels in Nakheel’s AED 3bn hospitality portfolio and part of a huge new master plan that is transforming Dragon City into a giant retail, residential and recreational complex of more than 11 million square feet.

Set for delivery in 2019, Premier Inn Dragon City will span 178,000 sq ft in built-up area over eight floors.

Premier Inn Dragon City is one of two Nakheel hotels managed by the UK’s Premier Inn. The first, a 372-room hotel at Ibn Battuta Mall, opened last October.

Nakheel’s expanding Dragon City mixed-use community comprises four million sq ft of retail space, a twin-tower residential complex with 1,120 apartments and two hotels with 516 rooms between them.

It is currently best known for Dragon Mart – the world’s largest Chinese trading hub outside China – featuring Dragon Mart 1 and its sister mall, Dragon Mart 2, which opened in February last year. The two malls welcome 40 million visitors a year.

Dragon City’s retail expansion includes a 375,000 sq ft showroom complex, currently under construction.