Dubai and Dallas: Similarities, But Another Nail in the Credit Coffin?
By now you’ve heard that this small Middle Eastern emirate has told creditors it needs a six-month extension to pay back $60 billion plus in debt. European banks are reeling, and financial experts are saying this is going to be the next nail in the world credit coffin, others saying makes no diff and the Brits will suffer more than us. Look for gold to go up. In any case, here’s a Dallas connection. In it’s heyday, Dubai was THEE place to go. Real estate flipping was INSANE. We have Dallas-based friends who know the area well and say it reminded them of a human scale Legoland: mind-boggling, a flipper’s playground. No question there was no evidence of any demand, but buildings were built anyhow. Starter homes, little condos, initially were modest: a quarter of a million dollars in the beginning, then people started flipping. A quarter million bubbled to two million in a matter of seven or eight months. Very similar to airport land rush of 1971 and 1972 here in Dallas/Fort Worth.
Our Trisha Wilson did the design work on the Dubai Atlantis Hotel built on a $1.5 billion dollar man-made island shaped like a palm tree, featuring $4 million plus homes with private boat docks and landing strips. (Pardon the metaphor, but I have been told the sand on which some of the homes were built is not all that solid.) Atlantis opened last fall with a gala party after a fire just two weeks prior to opening festivities? Here’s what I reported for you on DallasDirt.
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I adore Trisha Wilson; I love the story of her rise even more:
http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/2008/02/07/The_Amazing_Rise_of_Trisha_Wilsons_Interior-Architectural-Design_Firm.aspx
Does anyone know if she’s looking for interns???