Real estate brokers in Dubai have continued to use rendered images of the Dubai Creek Tower despite the project remaining on indefinite hold. Advertisements promise “panoramic” and “theatrical” views of the tower, but the project has remained undeveloped for over two years.
The real estate sector in Dubai attracts a significant portion of foreign investors, many of whom use online portals to check for property in the emirate.
“Harbour Gate Tower is situated in Dubai Creek Harbour, a community offering a tranquil lifestyle for its residents.”
“Harbour Gate offers theatrical views of the waterfront and The Tower, an architectural beauty and the world’s future tallest building.”
But the tower project – by UAE real estate giant Emaar – was suspended in 2020, with no indication of it going ahead two years later.
Still, brokers are using the project, pegged to beat Burj Khalifa as the world’s tallest building, as a major selling point for prime residential units around the glitzy new neighbourhood along the historic Dubai creek.
Although no official announcement has been made about the fate of the ambitious development, Emaar has removed all mentions and rendered images of the tower on its website.
A Reuters report in 2020 said the developer had to suspend work on the tower, as well as on the surrounding residential projects, as Emaar took major blows from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Later that year, Emaar’s founder and then chairman Mohamed Alabbar had confirmed they halted new developments.
“We don’t build anymore. The government entities decided to stop new developments almost a year back, but Covid definitely put the brakes on,” he said at the time, as quoted by Bloomberg.
A lot has changed since these reports however, with Dubai’s property market seeing a major rebound post-2020. Led by a motivated government, the UAE emirate has identified real estate to be a critical driving force in its pandemic-exit strategy.
Despite the lack of clarity on the Dubai Creek Tower, dozens of advertisements on marketplaces such as Dubizzle and Property Finder would still feature the building – even using it as a centrepiece to ride on a wave of renewed investor appetite in the sector.
A listing on Property Finder, by Dubai-based broker FAM Properties, uses rendered images of Dubai Creek Harbour with the tower. Some of the residential buildings they advertise are also developed by Emaar.
“A neutral colour palette throughout accentuates the dazzling views of Dubai Creek Tower or the lush private courtyards,” the listing, posted six months ago, reads.
Although Emaar has updated its description of its residential projects to remove the mention of Dubai Creek Tower, FAM Properties, as well as other agencies have kept it.
Emaar has not responded to Arabian Business’ request for comments.
“All these images are provided by private sellers who have absolute faith in the master community of Dubai Creek Harbour. Our agents are 100 percent in compliance with the marketing agreements with private sellers and landlords of the Creek Harbour community,” Firas Al Msaddi, CEO, of FAM Properties told Arabian Business in an emailed statement.
“Considering Emaar’s track record of constructing the tallest tower in the world, I strongly believe that Emaar will construct and complete the Creek Tower or a better project that is even more attractive and adds more value to the master community as well as enhances the global positioning of Dubai.”
“Moreover, we have never seen any official announcement or communication regarding the refraining of mentioning the Dubai Creek Tower, which is the reason that all agencies in Dubai are still using the images provided by sellers and landlords.”
According to Msaddi’s website, he has been feted with a Top Broker Award from Emaar properties.
Emaar is a major developer in Dubai Creek Harbour, the planned location of the abandoned tower project.
Just last month, the real estate giant reported around $4.1 billion in property sales in the first half of 2022 across its major community developments in Dubai, including in the Harbour – a 15 percent increase in comparison to the 2021 half-yearly figures.
This performance follows a host of high-value transactions in Dubai’s property scene, which has prompted the government to tighten real estate regulations for both brokers and buyers.
Data from real estate company Zoom Property has earlier revealed that a significant portion of property investments into the UAE come from overseas. Investors from the UK, Italy, and France were among the top buyers in early 2022.
There was also a notable increase in Russian investors in the same period, as well buyers from Canada, India, Lebanon, and China.
According to sector regulator Dubai Land Department, there are nearly 13,000 registered brokers in Dubai, which could only increase given the industry upturn.
It remains unclear whether future residents of the Dubai Creek Harbour will get “panoramic views” of the Dubai Creek Tower, as promised by some real estate agents on their ads – and consequently, whether Emaar, which has recently fully acquired the Harbour from Dubai Holdings, will come up with an announcement to revive the abandoned project.
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