Dubai developer Alex Zagrebelny is building Eywa, a luxury tower inspired by Avatar and ancient Indian design. It’s part of a real estate boom that has seen home prices soar 70% since 2019. While stricter rules and strong demand suggest stability, some warn the market may be overheating again, according to Bloomberg. They write:
If you think Alex Zagrebelny’s latest project sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, you wouldn’t be wrong.
The Dubai-based developer is constructing Eywa, a 21-story residential tower designed to look like the Hallelujah Mountains from the Avatar movies. Other elements of the plan borrow from principles of Vastu Shastra, an architectural science with origins in ancient India: Embedded in the building’s foundation is a 14-tonne pyramid fashioned from 1,450 crystals and semiprecious stones. When construction wraps up in 2026, bedrooms will be lined with materials that supposedly protect residents from electromagnetic fields. […]
But critics note that the booming property market has lured scores of new developers, with nearly a quarter of a million homes on track for completion in the next few years. That would represent a 30% increase in the supply of housing in Dubai, according to real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. […]
Despite facing years of regulatory obstacles and delays, Kleindienst says he thinks it’s only a matter of time before projects like his find their audience. He’s unfazed by the prospect of another potential real estate bust. “Dubai has its speed—the idea of these islands, they’re not walking away,” he says. “It’s only the question, does it come sooner or later? But it’ll come.”
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