KIDWCKED
01-31-2011, 11:18 PM
c/p from ESPN by the a/p
January 31, 2011
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Plans for a Tiger Woods signature golf estate, including a boutique hotel and sheik-style palaces, have been shelved as Dubai's financial downturn claimed another major project launched during the eye-popping boom years.
A statement Monday by the golf course developer -- part of a conglomerate controlled by Dubai's debt-squeezed ruler -- said "market conditions" were behind the decision to suspend work on The Tiger Woods Dubai on the city's desert outskirts.
The announcement -- just before Woods is scheduled to play in the Dubai Desert Classic next week -- shows that Dubai's property market is still wobbling from the severe credit crunch that hit last year and stalled many headline-grabbing projects, including an even larger version of the manmade palm-shaped island that helped put Dubai on the map.
"It's been put on hold for right now. A lot of projects are out there," Woods told The Associated Press on Sunday after he finished his season debut at Torrey Pines. "It's still there. We've got six completed holes and a few that were about to be grassed before construction was halted. Everything is on hold."
The golf course developer, part of Dubai Properties Group, left open the possibly that work could someday resume.
"These conditions will continue to be monitored," said a statement to the AP after questions about the status of the long-delayed golf complex. "A decision will be made in the future when to restart the project."
Only a few holes have been completed on the $1 billion course, planned as the centrepiece for a complex of 100 villas, 75 mansions, 22 palaces, a boutique hotel, a golf academy and 30,000 full-grown imported trees.
The first phase of the development had been promised by the end of 2009 -- about the same time Dubai stunned world markets by announcing staggering debt for many of its state-linked companies.
January 31, 2011
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Plans for a Tiger Woods signature golf estate, including a boutique hotel and sheik-style palaces, have been shelved as Dubai's financial downturn claimed another major project launched during the eye-popping boom years.
A statement Monday by the golf course developer -- part of a conglomerate controlled by Dubai's debt-squeezed ruler -- said "market conditions" were behind the decision to suspend work on The Tiger Woods Dubai on the city's desert outskirts.
The announcement -- just before Woods is scheduled to play in the Dubai Desert Classic next week -- shows that Dubai's property market is still wobbling from the severe credit crunch that hit last year and stalled many headline-grabbing projects, including an even larger version of the manmade palm-shaped island that helped put Dubai on the map.
"It's been put on hold for right now. A lot of projects are out there," Woods told The Associated Press on Sunday after he finished his season debut at Torrey Pines. "It's still there. We've got six completed holes and a few that were about to be grassed before construction was halted. Everything is on hold."
The golf course developer, part of Dubai Properties Group, left open the possibly that work could someday resume.
"These conditions will continue to be monitored," said a statement to the AP after questions about the status of the long-delayed golf complex. "A decision will be made in the future when to restart the project."
Only a few holes have been completed on the $1 billion course, planned as the centrepiece for a complex of 100 villas, 75 mansions, 22 palaces, a boutique hotel, a golf academy and 30,000 full-grown imported trees.
The first phase of the development had been promised by the end of 2009 -- about the same time Dubai stunned world markets by announcing staggering debt for many of its state-linked companies.