By SORAN BAHADDIN

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Park View Erbil, the 18-story skyscrapers billed as the Kurdish capital’s most prestigious residential project, is set to offer Kurds with a different lifestyle.

While Kurds traditionally like to live in houses rather than flats, the Park View complex is out to change that for the elites who can afford to buy a flat in this exclusive and gated community, comprised of 12 tall towers.

The skyscrapers happen to be in one of the most exclusive areas of the booming capital, overlooking the sprawling Sami Park, as well as a dozen smaller gardens that encircle the buildings.

“Up to 40 percent of this place is made of trees and greeneries,” says Bahram Karim, sales manager for the apartments. “We want our clients to experience something else.”

The 50,000 square meters gated community is part of the Salahaddin Holdings’ venture, which offers mid-size to extra-large apartments, ranging from 135 to 310 square meters, at a price of $1,600 to $1,800 per square meter.

Residents will have access to gyms, a cinema hall, parks, an SOS station and a giant shopping mall.

Karim takes pride in what he describes as the “finest kind of housing of its kind.”

Park View was started in 2012. The completion is planned in three phases. In each phase, four buildings are scheduled to be finalized.

With more than 1,000 workers busy with construction, the first residents will be moving in by mid-July this year, as the four first buildings open their doors to residents. “Everything should be concluded by August next year,” says Karim.

Roughly 85 percent of the apartments have already been sold.

Most buyers are local Kurds, but a great number of Turks, Arabs, and Americans also prefer Park View because of its excellence, he says.

“It is like living in a five-star hotel,” he adds.

The success story of the Park View apartments is only part of the overall trend in Kurdistan apartment-living.

Karim explains that the designers have taken into account a Kurdish preference for living in gated homes or individual lodgings.

“We knew this and that is why we paid much attention to the will of our customers,” he says. “We have done exactly as they have wished,” referring to many changes they have made both inside the spacious apartments and in the spacious corridors.

Rudaw