These renderings are the final approved concept for Burj Al Shaya designed by Gensler, the same architects behind The Avenues. The building consists of two towers, the tall tower will serve as the new Alshaya headquarters while the second shorter tower will be the Four Seasons Hotel. The location of this building is next to Burj Jassim in Kuwait City and it’s expected to be completed by mid 2015. From what I understood Alshaya haven’t released the renderings to the public yet but some people have leaked them online. Those two in this post are the only ones I’ve been able to find.
37 replies on “Burj Al Shaya”
Pretty cool HQ!
cool. new Al-shayi3 building. Time for the Starbucks lottery.
I call….3 Starbucks outlets.
I say 5, 2 in the mall, 2 in the HQ building and 1 in four seasons
Add an NBK branch to that 🙂
very strategic.
Someone should elect this guy to Parliament – he seems to be the only Kuwaiti that has attempted to develop this country on par with neighboring GCC nations. Maybe he can get a metro and airport project going which are the two most important projects for this nation. FS is one of the finest hotels in the world, surprised they are coming here, but it should be a wonderful addition to the hotel market. Now they really should consider legalizing liquor in hotels so that these hotels can function well.
P.S. I still wish AlShaya would start a discount carrier! Kuwait needs another one because Jazeera just can’t seem to get it right. The two most travelled destinations for Kuwaitis this summer will be Dubai and Turkey. Increase flights, Jazeera? Start thinking!
I don’t think he’s really interested in development.
He’s interested in business, not developing the world!
When will it be finished? That’s the time I will apply for a job in Al Shaya, their location in Shuwaikh sucks now but I would def apply once they move into this building. I agree with ahmed, Al Shaya is def getting his visions done and in a timely manner unlike other projects still in limbo.
mid 2015, gotcha 😛
So you haven’t applied to work for Al Shaya because you hate their current location and will only apply becasue you love their new offices ? Great, Al Shaya will definately have use for your creative business mind.
Since you feel the need to analyze my comment I will go into my actual reason for not applying which is I hate Shuwaikh area and it is very crowded and there is no parking where they are currently located. Any other snide remarks?
That’s still a pretty stupid reason not to apply to a very good org
No it’s not. The commute and work environment are extremely important to some people (maybe not to you). There are other good companies to work for.
I bet there will be no parking in the new area when they move
Al Shaya has done a lot of ‘good’ things for Kuwait (introducing famous brands to the region) but with it, has also killed a generation of innovation, entrepreneurship and prevented potential new wealth creation.
God knows there are a lot of frustrated, talented young Kuwaitis who need outlets for opportunity.
He has such a monopoly over the market now (retail brands, retail locations, retail malls) that smaller individuals just don’t have a shot of breaking into the tier 1 retail franchise world anymore.
Take the 20+ prime spots he has taken in The Avenues for Starbucks. That’s locations that could have given other people a business opportunity – and promote new wealth creation.
That new wealth could potentially be used in growing the economy and further fueling development and innovation. It’s a cycle.
Sadly, the scenario now is Kuwait is practically a one man retail monopoly (mid-low market), where opportunities for new business grow smaller and smaller each day.
Today newcomers are typically priced out (high key money, high rent, poor locations in traffic malls).
Kuwait needs another Avenues mall, but without Al Shaya controlling the board.
Welcome to the free economy kid! Just cause someones on a roll spinning moolah and others cant do so due to HIS store giving prime location to HIS outlets / franchises you cant actually hold him responsible for the newcomers not being able to cut teeth! This is competion; Man up or move the eff on!
And I get a scent of jealousy on your breath~
“Kuwait needs another Avenues mall, but without Al Shaya…” You mean somewhere like 360 Mall, yeah, cos it offers low rent/no key money great locations to start-ups?? Put on your big boy pants and stop making excuses.
I couldn’t disagree more. I think Kuwaitis like to use Al Shaya as an excuse. Are Al Futtaim or Al Tayer threatened by Al Shaya in the Dubai market, no. In fact, Al Tayer gave the Harvey’s Nichols agency to Al Shaya in Kuwait, and why is that, because Al Tayer didn’t want to enter the Kuwait market. It is a well known fact that Kuwaitis prefer to spend their money overseas. Do Kuwaitis spend money in Kuwait, yes, and in a market that only markets to Kuwaitis, a mistake. There are plenty of opportunities in this market for newcomers and there are newcomers that are doing well. The 20+ prime spots he has taken in the Avenues, well doesn’t he have controlling stock in the Avenues? He is a big player in the market and it was a novel idea for him to bring the ‘high street’, which Kuwaitis traditionally wander down every summer, to the middle-east. High key money? Maybe that is the problem, but there are other malls sprouting up around town that will compete against the Avenues,and if these malls build the typical cheap malls and don’t bring entertainment to these malls and don’t make them inviting, then they will fail against the Avenues. Kuwaitis get bored very easily, that is why they travel all the time, and it was reported today in the news that they spend the most on travel than any other GCC country, so up your game, and start being more innovative in your marketing approach. Dubai is brilliant at that!
Sarah, comparing Kuwait retailers with Dubai is a redundant argument.
First off the retail sector in Dubai is many, many times larger than that in Kuwait. Driven not only by strong local consumer spending but also the vast amount of tourists and regional / global export.
In Dubai there are many many big players in retail: Tayer, Futtaim, Bin Hindi, Landmark are the tip of the iceberg – but there is certainly not that monopolistic feel as in Kuwait. More so they do NOT control interest stakes in the malls (aside from MAF who typically anchors their own projects).
Witness the Kuwait malls who do not have Shaya as part of their retail infrastructure, usually they struggle. Asides from 360, very few have any relevance. In Dubai, you notice Shaya, but he isn’t the be all – end all of the mall. He’s just another ‘big player’ in a very large ocean.
Kuwaiti’s are no different to any other people, they travel because of a lack of entertainment and facilities in their own country….which is deep rooted to the stranglehold and restrictions imposed by the conservative members of society who would rather see deadlock / regression than progression.
When people are given entertainment and facilities in their own back yards, there is little initiative to travel and spend those dinars internationally. What nonsense to say Kuwaitis get bored easily. They get bored because of lack of progression.
Where is the Falika island project? The Silk City and all the other major ‘touristic / financial’ hubs that should have alleviated the mass exodus of people every weekend / minor public holiday.
Try starting your own retail / brick mortar project in Kuwait and let’s see how far you get before the red tape and barriers to entry suffocate any enthusiasm you may have had.
+1000000
+200000
+5000000000
Shaya sells more in Dubai than in Kuwait
Also Saudi is a much bigger market than UAE for retail, and that market IS controlled by fewer key players even though it’s much larger.
Lol@Sarah ‘Kuwaitis get bored very easily, that is why they travel all the time, and it was reported today in the news that they spend the most on travel than any other GCC country’
No, that’s simply because they can.
Anyway….this Burj Al Shaya….it’s all a bit, well creepy, isn’t it? Bordering on the Narcissistic. A bit like building a statue to yourself ( reminds me of Baghdad….)
I don’t know where you get your reports, but Saudis spend the most when traveling:
“According to Visa’s latest report, “Global Travel Intentions Study 2013,” tourists traveling from Saudi Arabia were the top spenders. Saudis are spending lavishly, at an average of $6,666 allotted per trip, which exceeds the global average by almost three times.”
You can now lahdiah, but as I pulled up to the petrol station this morning, who ran out of petrol on some of the pumps – you might want to diversify the economy! Reminds me of Baghdad – possibly that is your destination this summer? Next time you start dragging your feet on Jumeriah Beach with your head’s down echoing “Why can’t my country be like this?”. I ‘ll remember your comment that you are not bored here and so happy in your country that you want to stay here with the 40% that can’t travel this summer!
60 percent of Kuwaitis to go on holiday
KUWAIT CITY, May 20: Around 60 percent of the Kuwaiti population or 1.2 million citizens are expected to travel this summer and revenues for the air transportation sector within that period are estimated at KD300 million, reports Al- Qabas daily quoting some tourism experts.
According to Board Chairman of the Tourism and Travel Offices Union Khalid Al-Ahmad, the percentage growth in the travel sector may exceed expectations, considering the remarkable increase in the number of travel agencies operating in the country — from 160 to 305 — within just a few years.
On the other hand, Director of a travel agency Musaed Al- Saleh confirmed the Kuwaiti tourists are among the highest spenders in the world — four times their Gulf counterparts. He revealed the most common holiday destinations for Kuwaitis include Dubai and Turkey.
lol director of which travel agency? and what makes him an expert? seriously, if you were my research student, i’d flunk you..
@G Oh, you must be a teacher in Kuwait. Firstly, this article is taken from a local newspaper as a reference to my earlier statement, if this article is not true, then you should question the journalism credibility of this newspaper and that is a serious offense. Secondly, if you are a teacher in Kuwait, whether it is at the college level or middle school level, you should not be SO quick to fail students because students don’t fail, teachers fail students. When you have a classroom where the majority of the students fail your course, this is a reflection of your teaching abilities. Did you reach out to the struggling students in your class? Did you make sure that when it is the third, fourth, eighth time these students have taken your class, let’s say a college level course, you did your best to help them understand the material? When there are college students failing courses on a broad scale, the schools should analyze the educational system, not thrust rules like finals are 50% of your grade which causes large amounts of students to retake the courses. Colleges should want students to succeed, not fail, and the same principle applies to middle school. Teachers are instrumental in the lives of their students and they should not waste time playing childish games or deciding who they hate, when they see that students are working within their ability level and they are grading students – I have seen far too much vindictiveness in the educational system in Kuwait.
And P.S. lahdiah, this is not bordering on narcissistic, it’s called pride and if you understand anything about the hotel industry, Four Seasons is one of the most influential hotels in the world which will be located next to this building – you should be grateful that they even decided to come into this dry country.
The alshaya family owns the rights to Four Seasons in Kuwait lol
The main tower will not be a dedicated Al Shaya building.The alshaya company will just occupy a few of those floors.The other floors will be available for rent.The construction has already started and the parking lot is complete.The project had already been started a long time back.(Insider)
“Few floors” There are like, 2000 people in the alshaya head office
They are not going to shift their entire base over here but I guess it’s only going to be some department!!
Mark, Gensler got involved only for The Avenues phase 3. Earlier phases were designed by NORR, UAE.
We have a good new to share. Sadeer Trading & Contracting co. is working as a finishes contractor in this prestigious towers.