Palma Development Adds Two Apartment Towers to Serenia District

Palma Development has launched the second phase of Serenia District, an AED5 billion master-planned community in Jumeirah Islands. The phase adds two apartment towers to a project whose first stage is made up of villas — a change of building type in a district long defined by low-rise housing.

The two buildings are East Residence 2 and East Residence 3. East Residence 2 will have 25 floors and offer two-, three- and four-bedroom residences sized between 1,316 and 5,364 square feet. East Residence 3 is a 23-storey tower carrying one- and two-bedroom apartments from 875 to 1,605 square feet.

Construction is further along on the first phase, West Residence. Foundation works there are finished, and main contractor Khansaheb Civil Engineering has begun structural construction. On the second phase, site operations and piling are in progress.

The supply argument

Kareem Derbas, chief executive of Palma Development, said Jumeirah Islands is a long-established and highly sought-after community, and that premium apartment options within it have remained exceptionally limited. Serenia District, he said, addresses that structural supply gap.

Derbas described the project as a combination of location scarcity, world-class architecture and dedicated lifestyle infrastructure. He also said it is built to promote longevity and to create lasting capital value for homeowners.

Design and shared facilities

Japanese architectural firm Nikken Sekkei designed Serenia District, and Godwin Austen Johnson (GAJ) is the design architect. The site covers more than 600,000 square feet of land, with a planned built-up area of 3.5 million square feet spread across six residential towers.

The towers are linked through shared lifestyle and wellness infrastructure rather than treated as six separate addresses. That infrastructure includes a four-storey clubhouse and six wellness zones. The Serenia Signature Clubhouse will hold fitness facilities, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, sports courts, family recreational areas and relaxation spaces. Amenities across the development are weighted towards health, recreation and long-term well-being.

The stated intent is to introduce apartment living to Jumeirah Islands, where the housing stock has been almost entirely villas.

Developer background

Palma Development was established in 2002 and works on residential and waterfront projects across Dubai. Its portfolio includes Cayan Infinity Tower, Silverene Towers and Serenia Residences The Palm.

The scarcity argument is the commercial core of this launch. Buyers who want a Jumeirah Islands address and would consider an apartment have had very little to choose from, and Palma is sizing its two towers in separate bands — larger three- and four-bedroom homes in one, smaller one- and two-bedroom units in the other — to reach families moving down from villas as well as buyers entering the district at a lower price point. How deep that demand runs will become clearer as the villa phase and the apartment phase reach the market at the same time.