The News
Mohamed Alabbar — the Dubai billionaire behind Emaar Properties and the Burj Khalifa — has Montenegro in his sights.
Under a new five-year economic agreement that will see the Balkan country welcome Emirati investment for two new tourism hubs, his Abu Dhabi-based Eagle Hills Properties has submitted the highest bids for leases on a stretch of southern coastline.
Locals are pushing back on leasing the project to a foreign company. This wouldn’t be the first time Alabbar has met with resistance: A plan to develop a district in Budapest — dubbed “mini Dubai” — was shelved after the city council bought the land and earmarked it for affordable housing instead.
Alabbar, a key figure in the UAE’s global real estate expansion, recently partnered with Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners on a luxury project in Belgrade and has a $6 billion development underway in Tbilisi, Georgia.