Pics: Meraas’ new Dubai beachfront project La Mer to open this month

Dubai developer Meraas has confirmed that its beachfront development La Mer will open its first phase to the public from October 15.

Located at the Jumeira 1 – between Pearl Jumeira and Jumeira Bay, the development spans 13.4 million square feet of existing and reclaimed land.

The project is being developed over three areas – La Mer South, La Mer North and The Wharf.

The shopping, dining and entertainment areas at La Mer will open to the public in two phases. The first phase comprises La Mer North and La Mer South, featuring over 130 shops, cafés, restaurants, and beach activities.

Some of the food and beverage concepts set to open will be making a debut in the region, said Meraas.

A Sea Spice beach club is also set to open soon. La Mer will also feature ‘Hawa Hawa’, a new air-filled trampoline concept that was first created and installed in public parks in Japan.

In terms of amenities, existing beaches have been redeveloped to include showers, toilets with baby changing and disabled access, day rooms and cabanas, free wifi, information hubs, mobile charging, prayer rooms, four children’s playground areas and over 1,000 parking spaces. Valet parking will also be available on-site.

The second phase of La Mer, The Wharf, features “rusty steelworks and an industrial aesthetics” and will have a waterpark with a surf park, a cinema, additional shops, cafés and restaurants.

These are scheduled to open at the start of 2018.

At a later stage, there will also be a hotel and residential community located on two man-made peninsulas, a statement said. No specific timeline was revealed.

Abdulla Al Habbai, group chairman at Meraas, said: “La Mer is the seventh destination delivered by Meraas in the past three years, following City Walk, The Beach, Boxpark, Last Exit, The Outlet Village and Al Seef.

“The destination reaffirms our commitment to contribute to Dubai Tourism Vision 2020 by diversifying what Dubai has to offer.”