Yeah I saw this and my first thought is, "There goes the neighborhood." There are already to many KBR guys here, this is just going to make it worse. All those employees in Houston with the cushy office jobs must be wondering where the hell Dubai is. And will be in for quite a shock when they get off the plane. I wonder if they will be building an isolated compund for them or if they will live in the local economy. This could potentialy make the rent situation even worse then it is already.
That's true, but this isn't anything remotely resembling Iraq.* Hell I even have forgotten where my bulletproof vest is from when I lived in Beriut! All jokes aside, I was thinking more from a rental stand point. When 12,500 western expats move into the area, then the rents go up. If they are building a compound, like say International Village or the Arabian Ranches, that would mean that the housing was specificaly allocated for them. And wouldn't affect local rents. Security wise, it makes no difference; the compounds are built here for entirely different reasons then in Iraq or Saudi. But if they all are looking for flats in the local market, even with all the building going on, the landlords will try to gouge as much as they legaly can. After all, they know that Halibourton will foot the bill and not wimper; like say, I would. *I mean we have yacht clubs, indoor ski slopes and Harvey Nichols fashion shows.
I wouldn't suprise me, it's growing so damn fast. If I don't drive buy it for a few days, I'm always taken aback at how much it has grown. It's directly across the street from the hotel where I was a chef for a year. I can remember when it was nothing but an massive empty lot. Then it was a massive hole in the ground. Tbh, it will take me at least a year before I trust going into it. Based on the skill level of the workers here, and the rate at which it's growing; I just have my suspicions about a building that size. But it would make a perfect international oil company HQ. They are probly the only ones that could afford to take a whole floor for their offices.
