Diriyah Company has unveiled The Grand Avenue, a 1.9-km-long mixed-use main spine that will anchor its flagship Diriyah mega-development near Riyadh, adding another major component to Saudi Arabia’s fast-expanding urban and tourism pipeline.
Announced during MIPIM property expo last month (March) in Cannes, the new corridor is designed as a central urban boulevard combining hospitality, retail, office, residential and lifestyle components within the kingdom’s historic Diriyah masterplan.
The mega project features 85,000 sq m of retail and food-and-beverage gross leasable area and 400,000 sq m of gross floor area in addition to 2,400 luxury residences, six top hotels offering 1,300 keys, 12,000 parking spaces, and seven iconic landmarks integrated across the development.
The project is positioned as a high-density mixed-use destination intended to boost Diriyah’s role as Saudi Arabia’s premier historical, cultural and lifestyle district.
Pouring of 7,193 cu m concrete for the DG II Gyratory Tunnel Extension was completed within a record 15.5 hours.
Diriyah Company, part of Saudi PIF’s giga-project portfolio, is developing a 14 sq km masterplan with a total investment exceeding SAR236 billion ($63.2 billion).
Meanwhile, Diriyah announced that it has signed up Aedas, a leading global architecture and design practice based in Hong Kong, for a 100-key hotel project coming up over a 14,168 sq m area within the Northern District of the giga Diriyah development.
The ultra-luxury property – Capella Diriyah by Aedas – embodies the spirit of Najdi architecture through a modern lens, one that celebrates community, privacy, and craftsmanship, it stated.
While Aedas will be responsible for the design and project architecture, the lead consultant is WME, a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy firm. According to Aedas, the design of Capella Diriyah draws deeply from this legacy, echoing the solid-void rhythm, earthen palette, and spatial hierarchy of Najdi architecture.
Organised around a sequence of courtyards, the hotel transitions from vibrant public zones to intimate retreats. This layered composition reflects the social fabric of the region, fostering community while preserving the serenity of private spaces, said the Hong Kong-based design group.
The patterns in the stone play with the sun, casting shifting shadows that bring the heritage of Najd to life throughout the day.
Early last month, Diriyah awarded a major contract worth SAR2.5 billion for the implementation of the Pendry Superblock Package Northwest within Diriyah Gate II as part of the giga development.
Under this deal, Pendry Hotels and Resorts, a unit of US-based Montage International, will be setting up its debut property at Saudi Arabia’s premier historical, cultural, and lifestyle destination.
The scope of work includes the construction of the Pendry Hotel Diriyah as well as premium residential and commercial assets spanning over a 75,000 sq m area.
In another development, Diriyah Company has achieved a major construction milestone with the completion of pouring of 7,193 cu m of concrete within 15.5 hours for the Gyratory Tunnel Extension in the second development phase of its mega development masterplan. With this key achievement, DG II Gyratory Tunnel Extension Project has set a new concrete pouring record, stated the Saudi developer.
Located to the west of capital Riyadh and 25 km from King Khalid International Airport, the DG II Gyratory Tunnel Extension is a 700-m-long extension to the original road tunnel from the gyratory system beneath the Diriyah Square development.