from AP

Dubai’s next big thing? Perhaps a $5 billion man-made ‘moon’ as the city’s real estate market booms

By NICK EL HAJJ

This artist rendering shows the $5 billion project, MOON envisioned on the Dubai Pearl, a coveted plot of land at the base of The Palm Jumeirah. A proposed $5 billion real estate project wants to take skyscraper-studded Dubai to new heights by bringing a part of the heavens down to Earth. Canadian entrepreneur Michael Henderson envisions building a 274-meter (900-foot) replica of the moon atop a 30-meter (100-foot) building in Dubai, already home to the world's tallest building and other architectural wonders. (Michael Henderson/Moon World Resorts via AP)
(Michael Henderson/Moon World Resorts via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Who says you cannot reach for the moon? A proposed $5 billion real estate project wants to take skyscraper-studded Dubai to new heights — by bringing a symbol of the heavens down to Earth.

Canadian entrepreneur Michael Henderson envisions building a 274-meter (900-foot) replica of the moon atop a 30-meter (100-foot) building in Dubai, already home to the world’s tallest building and other architectural wonders.

Henderson’s project, dubbed MOON, may sound out of this world, but it could easily fit in this futuristic city-state. Dubai already has a red-hot real estate market, fueled by the wealthy who fled restrictions imposed in their home countries during the coronavirus pandemic and Russians seeking refuge amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

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