Al Ahly for Real Estate Development – Sabbour and El Mostakbal for Urban Development, the master developer of Mostakbal City, along with their partners Hill International, Sabbour Consulting, Gensler, and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) announced details of a new mixed use-urban community compound in Mostakbal City on an area of 578 feddans, the equivalent of 2.4m sqm.
The mixed-use development, named the “City of Odysia” will be built at an estimated cost of EGP 32bn.
Essam Nassef, chairperson and managing director of El Mostakbal for Urban Development, said that the success of Sabbour’s vision is seen in the rate of occupancy of their developments which are among the highest in Cairo with a rate over 90%.
“It signifies to us that Sabbour builds homes for real people and this is what we want at Mostakbal City; real homes, real people, real lives, and this is what Sabbour represents,” Nassef added.
The residential portion of the compound will house around 12,000 families.
“For us, the City of Odysia represents a new phase for Al Ahly For Real Estate Development – Sabbour, towards implementing our new strategic direction,” Ahmed Sabbour, managing director of Al Ahly for Real Estate Development, said. “The City of Odysia is structured as a number of diverse micro-communities—for which Sabbour is famous—tied together by pedestrian-friendly connections marking City of Odysia as a standard-setter in healthy, liveable place-making.”
Gensler, an award winning global leader in architectural design, was tasked with providing an innovative masterplan and urban design services for the new city.
Ian Mulcahey, community sector leader, managing director, and principal at Gensler and project principal for the project, said that with Gensler’s expertise in sustainable master planning and the implementation of a ‘car-lite’ strategy, the attractive living environment will create a strong sense of community.
More significantly, “Sabbour has not limited the cost issue to facility management, sustainability, and energy prices, but has included in the concept design of the City of Odysia a wide range of units,” Sabbour points out. “We must adapt to changing needs. Those changing needs include a product offering that, in its diversity, allows more customers to purchase a unit that meets their needs instead of spending exorbitant amounts of money only to adjust certain aspects of the property they have purchased.”
Hill International will be managing the design and construction of the project.
Waleed Abdel Fattah, senior vice president and North Africa regional manager for Hill International, said that construction is one of the world’s most difficult and challenging endeavours, and big projects such as Odysia carry big risks along with it.
He further added that, normally, such big projects face delays and cost overruns. However, through Hill’s presence on the project, “we will assist the client to manage reducing these risks to successfully hand over the project on-time and within budget,” Abdel Fattah said.
Sabbour noted that the City of Odysia masterplan includes the development of a central business district that spans 100 feddans. Recently recognised for innovation, people management, and global competitiveness in 2018’s Fortune 500 list, JLL has been tasked with providing consultancy services on the development and leasing of the city’s central business district.
Ayman Sami, country head for JLL MENA’s Egypt office, said that City of Odysia’s central business district offers an abundance of advantages that are crucial for the success of the project.
Sami added that the complex is located at the crossroads connecting New Cairo and surrounding areas with the New Administrative Capital.
He noted that the facilities and concepts integrated within the design will allow for different requirements and prove attractive for potential clients to move their business there.
