Construction of the Palm Jumeirah island began in June 2001 and the developers announced handover of the first residential units in 2006.
In early October 2007, the Palm Jumeirah had already become the world's largest artificial island.[8] Also at this time, 75% of the properties were ready to hand over, with 500 families already residing on the island. By the end of 2009, 28 hotels were opened on the Crescent.
The complexities of the construction were blamed, in part, for the extended delays to the completion of the project, the date of which was pushed back multiple times and was nearly two years late.
In 2009 The New York Times reported that NASA's laser altimeter satellites had measured the Palm as sinking at the rate of 5 mm (0.20 in) per year. In response Nakheel said they had received no reports of structural problems of a type that would be expected if there were any subsidence, and pointed out that the laser satellites had a measurement resolution of only 50 mm (2.0 in).
