Dubai Towers gets its land, for 705 million dollars

In a final round of bidding yesterday in Istanbul, the 46 thousand square meter plot of land in the central Istanbul district of Levent went for 890 million YTL to the United Arab Emirates firm Sama Dubai, whose closest competitor in bidding was the Turkish company Zorlu Holding. Zorlu's bidding for the plot of land, which is the former IETT Garage land in central Levent, pushed Dubai Sama's bid up an addition 99 million dollars from the previous round of bidding. Sama Dubai belongs to Dubai Sheik Muhammed Bin Rasid El Maktum. Despite the fact that he had declared two days ago that "we are expecting a bid of one billion dollars," Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas said that he was not disappointed yesterday, and that the offer of what amounts to 705 million dollars was quite satisfying. When completed, the Dubai Towers are expected to be Turkey's tallest buildings.
 
Speaking after the bidding took place yesterday, Mayor Topbas congratulated the companies which had taken part in the process, noting "We see one truth, which is that the stability in our country is reflected in the prices here. We have reached a level of real estate prices which the most developed countries have."