Dubai's Uptown Tower office space fully leased, with work on new towers starting 'soon'

Office space at the new Uptown Tower development in Dubai's Jumeirah Lakes Towers has been fully leased before its completion later this year, said the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the free zone behind the project.

The DMCC also confirmed that work on the next two commercial towers in the project is set to commence “soon”.

The 79-floor tower, which stands at 340 metres, making it the 14th tallest in Dubai, has 495,000 square feet of Grade A office space across 22 floors.

Anchor tenants will include Hisense, HIKVision, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and it will also be home to DMCC’s new headquarters.

“Reinforced by a range of leading global businesses selecting Uptown Tower as the base for their Middle East and international operations, pre-leasing 100 per cent of Uptown Tower’s office space ahead of the completion is yet another testament to investor confidence in both DMCC and Dubai’s thriving economy,” said DMCC executive chairman and chief executive Ahmed bin Sulayem.

The building will also have about 2,000 residential units and a SO Sofitel five-star hotel. Its diamond-shape design was in line with DMCC's diamond and gold trading.

Mr bin Sulayem previously told The National that the project was built in response to growing demand for office and commercial space.

A tour inside Dubai's newest skyscraper - Uptown Tower

Hard hat tour of Uptown Tower – new skyscraper to open in Dubai later this year. Victor Besa / The National

“The demand for services in Dubai is increasing all the time,” he said. “It is rivalling the traditional centres of the world and while the pandemic shocked a lot of people, Dubai proved itself during that time.”

Dubai has benefitted from the availability of Grade A space at a cheaper cost, compared with other office centres in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, Savills said in its first Global Capital Markets Quarterly update in June.

“The office market in Dubai remains an attractive investment opportunity, with estimated cash-on-cash prime office yields over 8 per cent, second only to Mumbai and highest among the western and Asian countries ranked,” said Edward Price, Savills’ associate director of capital markets in the Middle East.

Dubai is also expected to grow its flexible office space as corporate entities look to adapt and employees seek an alternative to working from home, Savills said this week.

It highlighted Dubai's growth potential on the back of the UAE's strong economic rebound during the past year.

In Dubai, flexible space operators across are recording high occupancy levels, with a few players reporting 100 per cent occupancy and charting plans to further expand offerings across Dubai, Savills said.

The citywide ValuStrat Price Index for Dubai's offices was 20.6 per cent higher than the same period last year, reaching 76.1 points at the end of the second quarter.

ValuStrat said the highest quarter-on-quarter performers were Downtown Dubai (3.9 per cent), Jumeirah Lakes Towers (2.3 per cent) and the DIFC (2.2 per cent).