The Sarajevo City Center development has already begun and will include a shopping and entertainment centre, five-star hotel and office tower next to the parliament and government buildings. IIB acquired a 28.3% equity stake in the project in August 2009. Al-Shiddi will invest about $216.6 million in the center, due for completion by end-2012, and it is also investing about $40.6 million in a four-star hotel in a newer section of Sarajevo for completion by year-end.

Chairman Sulaiman Al-Shiddi said he expects the completed complex to be worth $406 million as it occupies the last comparable location in the city, where space is limited due to surrounding mountains. The group started looking for investments in Bosnia in late 2004 when prices were extremely cheap, he said. "If you compare the prices today with the region, they are still 50% lower than in Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro." Al-Shiddi said it took three years to get construction permits for the project, but if the project is successful, other Middle East investors will follow his example.