The Toyota Building in Dubai, a 15-storey residential tower and one of Sheikh Zayed Road's most recognisable landmarks, is scheduled for demolition in 2027, the Nasser Rashid Lootah Group (NRL Group) has confirmed.
Built in 1974, the residential tower stood on what was then known as the Defence Roundabout, now the first interchange on Sheikh Zayed Road, and received its famous nickname after a large Toyota sign was installed on its roof in 1981.
The red-and-white neon billboard became a landmark for generations. Although it was removed in 2018 after the advertising contract expired, the famous sign made a comeback in 2022. Now, the building itself is about to become part of the emirate's past.
Many of its residents live in shared accommodation. The emirate's authorities have clamped down on illegal sublets and partitioned units, warning that such partitions and makeshift room divisions pose fire hazards.
In June 2025, a fire in a residential block in Dubai Marina that was home to more than 3,800 people, provided a stark reminder of the potential risks posed by illegally partitioned dwellings.
Mohammed Maqdoom, a real estate co-ordinator at NRL Group, said Dubai Municipality is disconnecting electricity and water services in the Toyota Building in phases ahead of the planned demolition.
A building supervisor, who declined to give his full name, said Dubai Municipality workers conducted daily inspections to monitor occupancy.
One of the Toyota Building's tenants, Himanshu Kumar, 29, said he intended to vacate his accommodation before the end of the month, but the hardest part of leaving was the prospect of not finding anything like his current home.
“The view is out of this world,” he said.
“My neighbours and roommates are priceless, and the building that helped shape my life in Dubai will soon be gone.”
'It's where my Dubai story began'
The two-block Nasser Rashid Lootah Building was one of Dubai's first residential towers.
"My father used to talk about the Toyota Building the way other people talk about old friends," said Rayad Kamal Ayub, managing director of Rayad Group.
"Back in the 1980s, when Sheikh Zayed Road was little more than a two-lane strip through open sand, that red-and-white neon sign was one of the few landmarks for miles.
"What made it iconic was never really about Toyota at all. There was no showroom, no dealership, just that glowing sign someone hung on the roof in 1981, and a city that needed a way to say 'meet me there' before street names meant anything.
"It became a fixed point in a place that had almost none. My father’s stories and my own faint, secondhand memories of it are really the same story, just from two different decades of the same building watching Dubai grow up around it."
Manpreet Kaur, CEO and founder of Kirpa Properties, started her Dubai journey from this landmark. "I felt really sad when I heard they were demolishing it. It was my first home in Dubai.
"When I first arrived, I lived in a shared apartment. I stayed there for six or seven months while I was finding my feet, building a life and figuring out what came next.
"That building witnessed so many of my beginnings — the uncertainty, the struggles, the dreams and the hard work that eventually led me to build something of my own. Even today, whenever I drive past, I think about where I started and how far I’ve come. That’s why seeing it come down feels so emotional. It wasn’t just a building; it was where my Dubai story began."
Former resident Clyde Aguiar told The National: “I was born in the UAE and lived in the building from 1995 until 2019, so it was my childhood home.
“There are so many memories attached to it. It is a big shock to realise it will no longer be standing.
"I have been talking to old friends about it, and we want to return one more time before it is demolished,” he added.
