The Ritz-Carlton Residences Launches on Al Maryah Island

SAAS Properties formally launched The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Al Maryah Island at LIVEX 2026 in October, its third standalone branded residential collaboration with Marriott International following The St. Regis Residences and Seamont, Autograph Collection Residences. The development comprises 165 homes, with reported pre-launch pricing starting at $1.2 million (about AED 4.4 million), home sizes beginning at 882 square feet, and handover anticipated in the second quarter of 2030. It adds to a rapidly expanding concentration of hospitality-branded residences on Al Maryah Island, alongside The St. Regis Residences, Jumeirah Residences and newly announced One&Only Private Residences, while Rosewood Abu Dhabi is also preparing to release a limited collection of its existing residences for private ownership.

A Third Branded Collaboration with Marriott

SAAS Properties used LIVEX 2026, the Abu Dhabi property exhibition, to formally launch The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Al Maryah Island, a project first revealed during Abu Dhabi Finance Week in December 2025. The launch ceremony brought together Ahmed Al Qassimi, chief executive of SAAS Properties, and Jaidev Menezes, Marriott International's regional vice president for mixed-use development across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The project comprises 165 private homes, spanning one- to four-bedroom simplex residences and duplexes, alongside a signature penthouse. Construction is already underway, with handover anticipated in the second quarter of 2030. Published pre-launch reporting placed entry pricing at $1.2 million, or roughly AED 4.4 million, and listed residences from 882 to 4,962 square feet, with a five-bedroom penthouse extending to 13,713 square feet. Killa Design is responsible for the architecture, with interiors by Tara Bernerd & Partners.

The launch represents SAAS Properties' third standalone branded residential collaboration with Marriott International, following The St. Regis Residences on Al Maryah Island and Seamont, Autograph Collection Residences on Al Reem Island. Rather than three launches inside 12 months, the projects have come to market over roughly 17 months, beginning with The St. Regis Residences in May 2025 and Seamont the following month.

Why Hospitality Brands Keep Choosing Al Maryah Island

Al Maryah Island is one of Abu Dhabi's principal business and lifestyle districts, home to Abu Dhabi Global Market, The Galleria and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, with direct connectivity to central Abu Dhabi and neighboring Al Reem Island. The combination of an international financial centre, premium retail, healthcare and waterfront infrastructure has increasingly been accompanied by high-end residential development.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences is positioned along the island's waterfront canal, with the residential tower rising from a landscaped podium incorporating family-oriented amenities and resort-inspired spaces. Residents are expected to have access to a gym and spa, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, an executive golf lounge, a co-working lounge and boardroom, a cinema and landscaped family areas, supported by The Ritz-Carlton's residential service standards.

The project joins Jumeirah Residences, a 253-home waterfront development by Emirates Developments, and The St. Regis Residences, SAAS Properties' 38-storey development on the island. The branded residential pipeline is also expanding further: Mubadala and TARAF announced One&Only Private Residences on Al Maryah Island during LIVEX 2026, while Mubadala and Rosewood Abu Dhabi announced that 73 completed Rosewood residences will be offered for private ownership in Q4 2026.

That makes the more significant trend not the presence of three individual hospitality names, but the speed at which Al Maryah Island is developing into a concentrated branded residential district within Abu Dhabi's international financial centre.

What the Launch Signals for Investors

For HNWI buyers already weighing Abu Dhabi against Dubai, the Ritz-Carlton launch arrives against a significantly stronger Abu Dhabi market than existed only a year earlier. Abu Dhabi recorded AED 117 billion in real estate transactions during the first half of 2026, up 112% year-on-year, while foreign direct investment reached AED 13.8 billion, an increase of 309%. Off-plan property accounted for 89% of residential sales value during the period.

Those figures do not establish that branded residences specifically are absorbing a disproportionate share of capital, but they do show that the Ritz-Carlton launch is entering a market increasingly driven by new-build supply, international investment and large-scale development.

At a reported starting price of around AED 4.4 million, the development sits comfortably above the AED 2 million property-value threshold associated with Abu Dhabi's real-estate investor Golden Visa route. Buyers should not assume that headline purchase value alone creates immediate eligibility, however. Under current Abu Dhabi guidance, off-plan applicants must provide evidence that at least AED 2 million has already been paid to an approved developer, while financed property is subject to separate investor-capital requirements.

With handover anticipated in Q2 2030, buyers are committing against a construction horizon of approximately three and a half years from the October 2026 launch rather than near-term occupancy. That places greater emphasis on developer execution, payment-plan structure and the longer-term positioning of Al Maryah Island rather than immediate rental income.

What distinguishes the launch is therefore less its unit count than the growing density of hospitality-branded residential product within a single waterfront financial district. With Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and Jumeirah already in the market, One&Only newly announced and Rosewood residences entering private ownership, the next test for Al Maryah Island will be whether each brand can maintain meaningful differentiation and pricing power as branded supply expands.