We could have titled it, “Lancaster appears in the UAE.” Or Apple Valley or even Desert Hot Springs. Any of those places in the southern California desert where fairly big but inexpensive homes pop up on the most unlikely patches of desert.

What this country doesn’t have much of … is the SoCal/Arizona-style tract homes.

One developer is seeking to remedy this. As you can see by following link to a business blog in my paper, The National.

Does that remind you of the High Desert? Or what?

I love the bit about “enough garage space for two SUVs.” The SUV being an even more important sign of status and, actually, almost more of a necessity, to people here than it is in the greater Los Angeles market.

This batch of projected Arabian suburbia is about commuting, as are SoCal’s desert tracts. This one is located between the two major nodes of business in the UAE, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. You head north for 30 miles or south for 30 miles, and you’re in one or the other. Very handy. Very clever.

It’s almost like building a track on empty land at a midpoint between, say, the L.A. Civic Center and Disneyland/Anaheim Stadium. Sadly, that area (along I-5) was built up decades ago.

This whole thing makes me smile.  And makes me think of the IE.

I won’t be moving in to UAE-Hesperia. I have a lease here on Abu Dhabi Island till December … and we’re still trying to live without a car, and a car would be absolutely required to live in … what is it called? … in the Alghadeer neighborhood.

They’ll be putting in a strip mall by the freeway onramp, right?