# Planning to move to Saadiyat Beach Residences



## kickdiver

Anyone living there already? We are two Adults only, currently living in Al Ain, no kids and on waitlist for St Regis Apartments on Saadiyat Island, which seems a long shot as they are in high demand. We were planning to move into a 4BR in St Regis but now need to opt out for a 3 BR since they don't have larger apartments at SBV. So far we are not impressed with TDIC as they seem to not really care about customer service and half the time nobody answers the phone at this place. We are concerned that it would be even worse once we have moved in, since nobody even seems motivated to assist in the Sales Department, which we find quite unusual. Any other options in this area? Our budget is 300.000 AED/yr, most villas were unappealing to us because of the ongoing construction and most have no landscaping plus we don't want to deal with maintaining a yard.


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## AlexDhabi

Saadiyat Beach Residences and St Regis Apartments are not the same (not sure if you were aware of that). Keep persevering with TDIC if you want one of their properties. Someone who was waiting for St Regis just moved in so they always have people moving out. You just need to get to the top of their priority list.
Their on-site maintenance does not appear to be quite as bad as the sales department. I have friends and colleagues at both these locations on Saadiyat. Check out any of the new apartments on the Corniche (Nation Towers, Etihad Towers) for example, Al Reem and/or Eastern Mangroves. Really it is a very good budget if you don't want a villa so you should have no problem finding a suitable apartment.


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## kickdiver

*Saadiyat*



AlexDhabi said:


> Saadiyat Beach Residences and St Regis Apartments are not the same (not sure if you were aware of that). Keep persevering with TDIC if you want one of their properties. Someone who was waiting for St Regis just moved in so they always have people moving out. You just need to get to the top of their priority list.
> Their on-site maintenance does not appear to be quite as bad as the sales department. I have friends and colleagues at both these locations on Saadiyat. Check out any of the new apartments on the Corniche (Nation Towers, Etihad Towers) for example, Al Reem and/or Eastern Mangroves. Really it is a very good budget if you don't want a villa so you should have no problem finding a suitable apartment.


Thank you, yes, I am aware that they are not the same... and they are very different too. We are dead set on being by the beach and St Regis is THE property with THE best amenities and apartments and life and action , not as sterile and generic as the Villas seem to be (do people actually live there? seems empty mostly) . In my opinion there is no comparison between the Residences and the Apartments... hopefully maintenance is better, as you say.... than the sales department. We checked on most of the properties you mention (thank you) but life in a high rise is not very appealing and as former Florida and NC beach residents, we really are gung-ho on living on the beach again... not an inlet... I also heard Mangroves is outdated... we will take a look at it though. I know the budget is ok for what we need, it s not about the space it s about the location and the amenities... only St Regis seeems to have it all. We are viewing St Regis for longterm stay in the actual hotel this weekend (since the waitlist for the apartments has a dozen people ahead of us)The problem with this is .. no kitchen (don't want to eat hotel food - albeit good - all the time) and we would need storage which seems to be very expensive in AD (4000 AED/mth.... ? really?) , compared to what we used to pay in US... Thank you for your input, I appreciate it.


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## GumbaGumba

Hi

I live in Saadiyat Beach Residence ... just to confirm they are not villas but apartments only. We have a ground floor 3 bedroom apartment which is nice and spacious. It suits us because of our pets. BUT the area is dead! If you like going out then this is not the place. Looks like a café is ready to open but no date yet. The area is quiet which is great although the work makes it quite dusty. 

St Regis; Park Hyatt abd Saadiyat Public Beach are not far by car. It is not a bad compromise if you cannot get into St Regis. 

I have found TDIC quick to respond to questions and maintenance. The problem I have is the poor quality of some things. For example they have brand new Bosch appliances which sounds great.... the oven is faulty, our grill has never worked and we moved in about 1.5 months ago.... thr Bosch engenier inky comes on a Monday mid day ish .... the cool fridge has not been plugged in with water so you cannot use the water and ice cube dispenser. Also when we moved in we found a lot of defects like scratched windows, dented door.... we even have grafity on the wall in the master toilet.... 

Despite all of that it is not a bad place.

GG


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## GumbaGumba

One thing I forgot to mention, TDIC seems to allow you to change property even if yiur contract is nit over as ling as you swap with ine if their properties. So yiu could stay on the waiting list and move into the villas or residence or eastern mangrove while waiting. I don't know what the rules are though. 

Simw if the buildings at eastern mangrove are brand new so not sure why they woukd be out dated. We saw them back in Aprik and they look good. It wasn't right for our dog and cats byt otherwise great.

GG


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## Global_citizen

kickdiver said:


> Anyone living there already? We are two Adults only, currently living in Al Ain, no kids and on waitlist for St Regis Apartments on Saadiyat Island, which seems a long shot as they are in high demand. We were planning to move into a 4BR in St Regis but now need to opt out for a 3 BR since they don't have larger apartments at SBV. So far we are not impressed with TDIC as they seem to not really care about customer service and half the time nobody answers the phone at this place. We are concerned that it would be even worse once we have moved in, since nobody even seems motivated to assist in the Sales Department, which we find quite unusual. Any other options in this area? Our budget is 300.000 AED/yr, most villas were unappealing to us because of the ongoing construction and most have no landscaping plus we don't want to deal with maintaining a yard.


Hi,
I live on Saadiyat Beach Villas complex. My husband and I live in a 4 bedroom quadplex (adjacent wall on each side). Unfortunately, I have an extensive experience dealing with CBRE- the facilities management team running the show. They are very responsive when a resident calls their hotline, but slow in action and unorganized. Ever since we moved here, last year, we have experienced all kinds of 'teething issues' with our new villa. Ceilings leaking water, condensation on AC's, faulty ACs (too cold or too hot), insects that appeared in our kitchen cupboards, fungus that appeared in our bathroom cabinet, smell escaping the neighbor's kitchen into ours, and a number of other issues. It has been a nightmare, and fixing those issues took over 8 months. That being said, we stayed here because when we asked around and visited other towers/compounds we realized that Saadiyat villas have a better finishing and room space allocation. Plus, our issues are mostly solved now, so it makes no sense to move again. 

The island is beautiful and I doubt you'll find a better beach anywhere in the UAE! Try visiting Monte Carlo by getting a day pass and you'll never want to leave the island. 

Another downside to Saadiyat is food delivery!! It is FRUSTRATING. They just opened Shakespeare and Co, a small Spinneys and are planning to open another two restaurants. But still, you can forget about ordering a pizza or sushi or anything else for that matter, because no one will deliver. I say that because I have tried every restaurant I know. I am conflicted about Saadiyat, and those are my 2 cents  Hope it helps.


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## GumbaGumba

Global_citizen said:


> Hi,
> I live on Saadiyat Beach Villas complex. My husband and I live in a 4 bedroom quadplex (adjacent wall on each side). Unfortunately, I have an extensive experience dealing with CBRE- the facilities management team running the show. They are very responsive when a resident calls their hotline, but slow in action and unorganized. Ever since we moved here, last year, we have experienced all kinds of 'teething issues' with our new villa. Ceilings leaking water, condensation on AC's, faulty ACs (too cold or too hot), insects that appeared in our kitchen cupboards, fungus that appeared in our bathroom cabinet, smell escaping the neighbor's kitchen into ours, and a number of other issues. It has been a nightmare, and fixing those issues took over 8 months. That being said, we stayed here because when we asked around and visited other towers/compounds we realized that Saadiyat villas have a better finishing and room space allocation. Plus, our issues are mostly solved now, so it makes no sense to move again.
> 
> The island is beautiful and I doubt you'll find a better beach anywhere in the UAE! Try visiting Monte Carlo by getting a day pass and you'll never want to leave the island.
> 
> Another downside to Saadiyat is food delivery!! It is FRUSTRATING. They just opened Shakespeare and Co, a small Spinneys and are planning to open another two restaurants. But still, you can forget about ordering a pizza or sushi or anything else for that matter, because no one will deliver. I say that because I have tried every restaurant I know. I am conflicted about Saadiyat, and those are my 2 cents  Hope it helps.


Hey

Pizza hut do deliver but they have a minimum order of AED 100 which is annoying. My frirnd in the residence got them to dekiver for AED 60.
I have just asked Shakespeare and Co and they only deliver within St Regis. Rubbish! Can't wait till our café at the Residence opens.

GG


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## kickdiver

GumbaGumba said:


> Hi
> 
> I live in Saadiyat Beach Residence ... just to confirm they are not villas but apartments only. We have a ground floor 3 bedroom apartment which is nice and spacious. It suits us because of our pets. BUT the area is dead! If you like going out then this is not the place. Looks like a café is ready to open but no date yet. The area is quiet which is great although the work makes it quite dusty.
> 
> St Regis; Park Hyatt abd Saadiyat Public Beach are not far by car. It is not a bad compromise if you cannot get into St Regis.
> 
> I have found TDIC quick to respond to questions and maintenance. The problem I have is the poor quality of some things. For example they have brand new Bosch appliances which sounds great.... the oven is faulty, our grill has never worked and we moved in about 1.5 months ago.... thr Bosch engenier inky comes on a Monday mid day ish .... the cool fridge has not been plugged in with water so you cannot use the water and ice cube dispenser. Also when we moved in we found a lot of defects like scratched windows, dented door.... we even have grafity on the wall in the master toilet....
> 
> Despite all of that it is not a bad place.
> 
> GG


Thanks for the input. We went to see the only available 3 br and the views were a bit sinister and yes the area seems desolate. It is such a huge difference in life style if you compare it to the St Regis. We went to check both , St Regis & Hyatt and are most likely going with St Regis if they can put us in a suitable suite with the budget we have, since the St Regis apartments are sold out. If we add up the gym (best in town), beach access , free breakfast and all the other discounts and free bees, we are better off there. Of course, limited space and furniture have to go into storage, which they chare exorbitant amounts of money for in AD. We just didn't click with the Residences and that is mainly because we had looked at St Regis prior to that.


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## kickdiver

AlexDhabi said:


> Saadiyat Beach Residences and St Regis Apartments are not the same (not sure if you were aware of that). Keep persevering with TDIC if you want one of their properties. Someone who was waiting for St Regis just moved in so they always have people moving out. You just need to get to the top of their priority list.
> Their on-site maintenance does not appear to be quite as bad as the sales department. I have friends and colleagues at both these locations on Saadiyat. Check out any of the new apartments on the Corniche (Nation Towers, Etihad Towers) for example, Al Reem and/or Eastern Mangroves. Really it is a very good budget if you don't want a villa so you should have no problem finding a suitable apartment.


We did check out Easter Mangroves, thank you. The apartment they showed us was brandnew and nice layout from the inside and nice finishing , however, this complex is locked in by a major highway, and it was quite noisy plus the gym was a mere room with a few machines... and it's just not the same compared to living close to the beach.... Thanks for the input though. Always have to explore all options. We may have to rent in the St Regis until one of the apartments become available.


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## kickdiver

GumbaGumba said:


> One thing I forgot to mention, TDIC seems to allow you to change property even if yiur contract is nit over as ling as you swap with ine if their properties. So yiu could stay on the waiting list and move into the villas or residence or eastern mangrove while waiting. I don't know what the rules are though.
> 
> Simw if the buildings at eastern mangrove are brand new so not sure why they woukd be out dated. We saw them back in Aprik and they look good. It wasn't right for our dog and cats byt otherwise great.
> 
> GG


Yes, you are absolutely correct. They told us that we could start our lease at the Residences while on wait list and they would let us transfer to the Apartments if sthg becomes available. They were willing to work with us... it's just that we really did not click with this complex... Mangroves ... I don't know what the Realtor was thinking when she advised us not to look at the Mangroves because they are ''''outdated'''... the inside was brand new and actually the nicest of all apartments we had looked at (except for St Regis of course) ... but the problem was the close proximity to the major hwy and lack of other amenties such as a decent gym... and... the mangroves just aren't the beach... we are former Coastal Florida and Eastern Seaboard (NC) boaters....after living in the middle of the desert we'd love to be on the beach again.


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## kickdiver

*Wow..Fungus...*



Global_citizen said:


> Hi,
> I live on Saadiyat Beach Villas complex. My husband and I live in a 4 bedroom quadplex (adjacent wall on each side). Unfortunately, I have an extensive experience dealing with CBRE- the facilities management team running the show. They are very responsive when a resident calls their hotline, but slow in action and unorganized. Ever since we moved here, last year, we have experienced all kinds of 'teething issues' with our new villa. Ceilings leaking water, condensation on AC's, faulty ACs (too cold or too hot), insects that appeared in our kitchen cupboards, fungus that appeared in our bathroom cabinet, smell escaping the neighbor's kitchen into ours, and a number of other issues. It has been a nightmare, and fixing those issues took over 8 months. That being said, we stayed here because when we asked around and visited other towers/compounds we realized that Saadiyat villas have a better finishing and room space allocation. Plus, our issues are mostly solved now, so it makes no sense to move again.
> 
> The island is beautiful and I doubt you'll find a better beach anywhere in the UAE! Try visiting Monte Carlo by getting a day pass and you'll never want to leave the island.
> 
> Another downside to Saadiyat is food delivery!! It is FRUSTRATING. They just opened Shakespeare and Co, a small Spinneys and are planning to open another two restaurants. But still, you can forget about ordering a pizza or sushi or anything else for that matter, because no one will deliver. I say that because I have tried every restaurant I know. I am conflicted about Saadiyat, and those are my 2 cents  Hope it helps.


Thank you so much for your input. This confirms my suspicion. We actually went out again this weekend and looked at a free standing villa in Saadiyat Beach Villas and sure enough.... mold in the kitchen that developed all over the walls from what I believe was leak in the second floor Bath or AC unit... That really raised a huge red flag. We did go to Monte Carlo Beach Club, actually, that's the first thing that attracted me to Saadiyat because I know the Club from Monaco, and yes it is nice, but the St Regis has similar amenities and an even nicer gym, then again, ..their apartments are all sold out, obviously for a good reason. .... . So what we may end up doing is rent a large suite at the St Regis for the time being, put our stuff in storage (expensive, yikes) but at least we have free access to a great gym, the beach, pools, free breakfast and other discounts...(we may kill each other living in such small space though, lol) . what to do if you want to be near the beach. CBRE? I thought it's all TDIC from leasing to maintenance etc etc.. That's the first time I hear about this company... Sorry you've had so many issues with maintenance, that is EXACTLY what I am afraid of, renting a villa again. We are currently living in Al Ain in a villa of a private landlord and we had exorbitant out of pocket expenses to keep this place ' alive' (landlord is nowhere to be found - non-working phone number.... ) despite the fact that it is a high-end ,brand new place and we are the first tenants. Not to mention that we had to install the sprinkler system ourselves, plant grass , trees etc etc...because we did not want to live in a sandcastle.... I just don't want to go through this again, all the work, time and money spent ..for what? Thanks for the input, it just confirms that my worries are justified.


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## blue2002

BUMP. Any other / new impressions of Saadiyat? We are about to arrive in UAE and have been eying Saadiyat Beach Residences for while. Any additional comments and opinions would be appreciated.


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## busybee2

its "very out of the way" you will need a car.... eventually when the whole island is built up it will be nice but its going to be another 3 years i suspect before that will be the case. its the same as kca when it was first "opened" i lived there before anyone else with nothing there... if you have a car you are fine, we had kids who schooled in town, so i got everything i needed in town before coming back home etc.. so it really depends on your family... if you are a wife living there on your own its going to be boring..... eventually yas mall will open... but its not fun to drive around yas island with all those badly "timed" traffic lights, it can take hours to go a few miles !!


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## mikey1978

I am working at Etihad HQ and was wondering if this might be a suitable location to live. Any idea on what a taxi fare would be to and from? Also, how are the facilities kicking along there e.g. supermarket etc.
Any thoughts?


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## blue2002

mikey1978 said:


> I am working at Etihad HQ and was wondering if this might be a suitable location to live. Any idea on what a taxi fare would be to and from? Also, how are the facilities kicking along there e.g. supermarket etc.
> Any thoughts?


Google is your friend: Under 20 minutes one way. I imagine the taxi fare would be around 40 dirhams one way, but that is a guesstimate. Raha Beach would be a much closer location to EY Head Office.

By the way, I ended up moving to SBR. So far no regrets (well, not compared to other places anyway).


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## driftingaway

Sorry to bump this thread again but thought it better than making a new one... just wondered how anyone in SBR is getting on?

We looked at a smaller 'type A' 1 bed apartment on SBR last week and loved the feel of the area, the community centre now seemed quite busy etc, but didn't like how small the Type A 1 beds were.

We've been told a 1 bed (type B, the larger style) will be available next week, and it's between this or a place on Reem (eg. The Arc). Reem is a bit cheaper but many of the flats make me feel a bit claustrophobic, and there are so many towers popping up I can't tell if our view is about to be ruined...

I have a car but my wife was planning to take taxis to/from her school in Al Bateen... how easy is it to get a taxi from SBR (if you use the app 20 mins in advance etc)?

Thanks!


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## blue2002

driftingaway said:


> Sorry to bump this thread again but thought it better than making a new one... just wondered how anyone in SBR is getting on?


Seven months now and still enjoying the place. It is not perfect, but in my opinion still beats other mid-rise residentials (e.g. Raha Beach, Al Bandar).



> Reem is a bit cheaper but many of the flats make me feel a bit claustrophobic, and there are so many towers popping up I can't tell if our view is about to be ruined...


FYI, master devlopment plans do call for (as I recall) three more buildings in the same style as current SBR to be built between SBR and the canal.



> I have a car but my wife was planning to take taxis to/from her school in Al Bateen... how easy is it to get a taxi from SBR (if you use the app 20 mins in advance etc)?


Getting a taxi in the morning can be a challenge. It can sometimes take up to 30 min.


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## driftingaway

blue2002 said:


> Seven months now and still enjoying the place. It is not perfect, but in my opinion still beats other mid-rise residentials (e.g. Raha Beach, Al Bandar).
> 
> FYI, master devlopment plans do call for (as I recall) three more buildings in the same style as current SBR to be built between SBR and the canal.
> 
> Getting a taxi in the morning can be a challenge. It can sometimes take up to 30 min.


Great, thanks; hmm, I think the taxis will be the biggest issue, then; she needs to be in Bateen before 7:30am every day, so can't be waiting around.

Long shot, but do you know where apartment 112 B2 in SBR is and what sort of view it has? We can't view until next week and if it just has a view of the road etc like the one we saw last week I won't bother.


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## blue2002

driftingaway said:


> Great, thanks; hmm, I think the taxis will be the biggest issue, then; she needs to be in Bateen before 7:30am every day, so can't be waiting around.


Trying to get a cab between 07:30 and 08:00 is often challenging. 07:00 is still early though, so perhaps more cabs are availabel then. Also I imagine more cabs will be trolling Saadiyat as the place keeps growing, schools start opening etc.



> Long shot, but do you know where apartment 112 B2 in SBR is and what sort of view it has?


 Sorry, no clue.


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## Juu

Hi everyone,

I am looking at moving over there (1 bedroom) and just wanted to understand from you guys living there, in how many cheques you are paying your rent. When looking at offers on Dubizzle, it seems it's only 1 cheque.

thanks


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## blue2002

Juu said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am looking at moving over there (1 bedroom) and just wanted to understand from you guys living there, in how many cheques you are paying your rent. When looking at offers on Dubizzle, it seems it's only 1 cheque.
> 
> thanks


TDIC accepts either one or two cheques. For the privately owned units, I guess it is up to the landlord.


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## Juu

hence these offers on dubizzle. Thanks for the clarification!


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