Dubai- An American-owned firm will build a 800 million dlrs (euro 662 million) real-estate development in Dubai in what will be the largest Western investment in the Gulf emirate, it said Monday.

Capital Partners, a privately owned company run by two Americans, moved its headquarters to Dubai three years ago. Since then, Chief Executive Jonathan Wride has been negotiating the legal framework for Dubai River Walk, an office-and-residential development, according to a report of the Associated Press.

Huge real-estate projects _ from man-made islands to the Burj Dubai, touted to be the world”s tallest building when it opens in 2008 _ are not new to Dubai, the second-largest member of the United Arab Emirates after the capital Abu Dhabi.

According to the government, an estimated US$80 billion (euro 66 billion) of real-estate projects are under way in Dubai.