For regular readers of this column, a penthouse in a tall building in Dubai is going to sound a little passe. But this luxury pad takes up half of the 77th storey of the 92-floor Elite Residence, offering 6,246 square feet of space.
There are four bedrooms, all en suite, and the master also comes with a four-seater Jacuzzi and a balcony. Another balcony is located off the voluminous sitting room with views of the Palm Jumeirah and the soon-to-be completed Dubai Eye Ferris wheel.
All of this will set you back Dh13.9 million.
The property has been renovated to a modern taste, with new interior design work obvious throughout. A luxury fully fitted kitchen comes complete with white goods and marble flooring, and there is also a maid’s room and three parking spaces in the basement.
But the property’s pièce de résistance is its abundance of swimming pools.
While the majority of the UAE’s residential towers are well appointed for pools, the Elite Residence could leave Michael Phelps gasping. Along with the one outdoor and two indoor pools available to all residents in the building, this home also has its own private indoor pool.
There is one glitch however; the current owner has covered it with a wooden floor between the kitchen and the lounge area to reclaim it as an extra living space. That’s not to say you can’t reclaim it back.
Still, the pool deck on the fifth-floor podium offer views of the Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina, as well as billiards and table tennis rooms, a children’s play area, a sauna, a steam room, a Jacuzzi and a gym.
The building’s bottom three floors are packed with coffee shops, restaurants and supermarkets. It is on the front row of the Dubai Marina overlooking the Arabian Gulf, with immediate access to JBR Walk, The Beach, the Metro, the nightlife of Dubai Marina and the area’s public beaches – another option for those who like to swim.
q&a buy to live, not to rent
Camilia Savoye, executive property consultant for Kensington Exclusive Properties, tells Andrew Scott more the Dh13.9 million Elite Residence penthouse:
What is the market like for these upscale apartments?
Just like any market, the beauty is the eye of the beholder, and this apartment needs the right buyer – it is for an end user, not an investor, as the yields on smaller units are far better.
How long has this property been on the market?
We have had this penthouse on our books since June and it had an agent previously. While Elite Residence is a beautiful tower sitting on the front row of the Dubai Marina, there are newer towers on the Palm offering similar appointments with more competitive pricing. The market is generally still sluggish, but that is expected over the summer. The buyers we are seeing for this type of property are from Pakistan, India and the wider Arabian Gulf area.
So is Dubai Marina still attracting investors?
Dubai Marina is still one of the hottest tickets in Dubai – at least 50 per cent of all our enquiries are for properties in this area. The beach, the views and the nightlife mean it will always be popular.
Will Cityscape Global (which kicked off on Tuesday in Dubai) give an impetus to sales?
I was there at the opening and the there seemed to be more agents than customers there. Emaar sold out its newest development, but it was uncertain how much product was for sale and therefore not so easy to say whether this was a resurgence in the market.
ascott@thenational.ae
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