Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate

Masdar City broke ground in 2008 and was conceived by the Abu Dhabi government to be an international beacon of innovation in sustainable energy and real estate. It was also to be a profitable investment for the government. At first glance, the two goals pulled in opposite directions as conventional wisdom at the time claimed that building sustainably inevitably came at a premium. Over time, with each new project, Masdar learned more on how to balance building sustainably with being profitable. Masdar had financed all of its developments through equity but in 2020 was considering using debt for the first time through a “Green REIT” that was to be made up of a selection of Masdar’s own properties. The question was how would this affect Masdar’s ability to innovate, complete building the city, and continue to balance sustainability and cost. The case chronicles Masdar’s learning journey with each of its major developments from inception to 2020 and provides students an opportunity to understand the thought processes, inner workings, and design approaches that Masdar followed in the pursuit of balancing cost and sustainability. It also allows students to consider different approaches to financing a real estate development and the implications those approaches can have.