“Overlooking the Marina, the sea or the cityscape, the Residences at Marina Gate is one of the last available locations on the waterfront at Dubai Marina,” reads the developer’s website blurb.
And don’t I know it. My current apartment is at the moment occupying the same position of “one of the last available locations” in the very popular and successful marina development, with a view of the Emirates Hills golf course on one side, the full length of the marina to the front, and the Gulf prominently visible to the right. It must be one of the best views in Dubai.
However, when Marina Gate goes up, my 44th-floor balcony will be eye level with the on-roof air-conditioning apparatus of the new development. Gulf and marina views will be blotted out by what the developer, Select Group, calls “unique investment opportunities”.
For the past five years, everybody in my apartment block has been wondering what would eventually be built on the empty sandy space directly in front of the building. It was variously a parking lot, a dog-walking area, and a place where people used to try out remote-controlled mini-drones and other flying gadgets.
It was also, when the sea seeped through the Marina foundation wall a couple of years back, surely the biggest outdoor swimming pool in the world.
While the effects of the financial crisis endured, we were all reassured that nothing would go up there in the immediate future, but - in what must be the final physical confirmation that the Dubai property market is back - those days are gone.
Work began a couple of weeks ago on the ground preparation, and it can’t be long before the pile-drivers are at it 24-hours a day.
Three towers of about 43 stories each are planned by Select, and though they are called “Residences” the billboard on the site itself makes clear they will be mixed use: maybe another hotel to go alongside the Marriott just over the road; maybe another medium-sized mall like Marina Mall; perhaps a supermarket and other retail outlets, like the nearby Spinney’s.
I’m the last one to stand in the way of progress, but Marina Gate looks like the final straw to me. We’ve already endured the construction of the Dubai tram system for the past year. This, thankfully, is drawing to an end, with the project nearing completion sometime later this year.
I was looking forward to using the tram, and the end of the construction site that accompanied it, but now I don’t think I will get a chance. The congestion and inconvenience the Gate will cause mean it’s time we moved on.
The Dubai International Financial Centre is a forlorn place these days. The temperatures and humidity mean the wide-open terrace spaces around the Gate building have been virtually abandoned.
The chic shisha area alongside Al Mandaloun restaurant - usually thronged by smokers and coffee drinkers all day and well into the night - has been left fallow, it seems. You can draw pictures in the sand-dust on the uncovered glass tables; I’m sure I spotted a patch of grass growing up between the paving stones and a lone tumbleweed blowing along beside Cafe Bateel the other day.
But all is not as deserted as it seems. Like nocturnal creatures bound by daylight, the denizens of the DIFC have simply adapted to the scorching outside heat by living underground.
The food court area is still pretty busy, despite the fact many people are away in August. There is a sense of anticipation in the air that the next few months - which witness the DIFC’s 10th anniversary - will be the busiest in its history.
fkane@thenational.ae
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