The News
US President Donald Trump was struck by the scale and quality of the palaces and cities he visited in the Gulf last week, according to a Riyadh-based real estate executive who has known him for more than 40 years.
“He couldn’t believe” how far things had come since his 2017 trip, Jerry Inzerillo, group CEO of Diriyah Company, told Semafor. “He was just amazed.”
Inzerillo met with Trump three times last week during the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia, including to present the masterplan for Diriyah — a $63-billion development in Riyadh that aims by 2030 to feature 42 hotels, hundreds of tech and media firms, 500 retail stores, 100 restaurants, two universities, 26 mosques, and housing for 100,000 residents.
Trump later toured the site with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before a dinner at Diriyah. With 85 cranes at work, the project dwarfs New York’s Hudson Yards, which had 13 cranes in operation at its peak, Inzerillo said. “As a developer, he loves scale, he loves quality, he loves finishes.”
Know More
Diriyah has signed a flurry of deals in recent months as the kingdom races to finish major projects ahead of Expo 2030.
The developer — backed by Riyadh’s Public Investment Fund — secured $1.6 billion in financing for the Wadi Safar project, an upscale residential community being built alongside ultra-luxe resorts and a Greg Norman-designed golf course. Armani is building 15 branded residences there. And in a bid to lure technology and media companies, and the white collar workers who staff them, Diriyah has announced a dedicated innovation economic zone.
The project is on time and on budget, Inzerillo said. Residential sales have brought in $4 billion, mostly from branded properties that were snapped up “very, very quickly,” he said. Diriyah has also been authorized to raise debt to fund its growth.
PIF aims to create around 178,000 jobs through the development of Diriyah, and contribute nearly $5 billion to the kingdom’s economy when the project is done. Originally planned as a 400,000-square-meter heritage site, the development has since ballooned to 14 million square meters.