Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, on Monday announced its joint venture partnership with L Real Estate (LRE), Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, on Monday announced its joint venture partnership with L Real Estate (LRE), a global real estate development and investment fund, to develop “The District” a world-class retail destination with indoor-outdoor shopping and dining venues, on Saadiyat island’s Cultural District. The District, which is scheduled to be completed by 2017, comprises three levels – all above ground starting from the street level – distributed over 168,000 square metres of leasable space with more than 550 units allocated for luxury and fashion brands, dining outlets, high-end department stores, home furnishing chains, art galleries, family entertainment venues and various other speciality stores and services. Strategically positioned among the three world-class museums – Zayed National Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi – this development, which sits on a land plot of 17 hectares, will be one of the largest retail complexes in the emirate and the first-of-its-kind in the Arabian Gulf region to feature high-street outdoor fashion stores. “TDIC’s comprehensive vision of developing world-class tourism assets, such as Saadiyat island and its iconic cultural institutions, upscale residential communities and distinctive leisure facilities, is truly reflective of Abu Dhabi’s wider economic strategy of transforming the emirate into a vibrant international destination. This new retail destination – ideally sits among Saadiyat’s inspiring museums, beautiful landscape and coastal environment – will be a regional attraction and a highly prized sought-after location for Abu Dhabi’s communities and visitors when it opens by 2017,” said Shaikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of TDIC. The project – with a gross floor area totalling 258,000 square metres and a total built up area of 370,000 square metres – will start a detailed design of the destination in 2013, while construction will commence in 2014 and be completed in 2017 around the time of the Guggenheim museum opening. The Saadiyat Cultural District is set to become an internationally renowned arts hub featuring premier cultural institutions that are unprecedented in scale and scope. These feature Pritzker-prize winning architects that are involved in the world-class museums which will open on the island starting with the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2015, followed by Zayed National Museum in 2016 and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in 2017.