Dubai Marina

Community Overview
Dubai Marina is a self-contained bustling high-rise district home to residential apartments, serviced apartments and hotel towers offering an array of entertainment venues and restaurants. Construction started over a decade ago and over the years the area has grown into a fully-fledged waterfront lifestyle destination complete with marinas, beaches and promenades (JBR Walk) along the sea and its 3.6 km man-made canal (Marina Walk), snaking through its midst. Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) is a master-development in its own right fronting Dubai Marina along the shoreline.

Location
Dubai Marina is nestled between Dubai’s main artery Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR) and the Gulf with a view of the Palm Jumeirah from many towers. Part of 'new Dubai' it ideal for commuters to the capital.

Dubai Marina has its own metro station (Nakheel) and access to SZR is easy. The ‘old’ centre of Dubai, Bur Dubai and Deira, is about a 30-minute drive away. Major shopping malls like Ibn Battuta, Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall are around 10 to 20 minutes away respectively. The Marina’s proximity to Dubai Media & Internet City makes it a favourite for those working there.

Who lives here?
Dubai Marina is known as a hip and glitzy neighbourhood, thus attracting young professionals mostly renting their properties.  Nationalities, as in most areas in Dubai, are very mixed.  JBR is home to many young families taking advantage of the beach lifestyle and shops & entertainment on offer at The Walk.

Amenities & facilities
Standing out is the well stocked but not oversized Dubai Marina Mall for a spot of retail shopping, its Waitrose supermarket and its cinema and Gourmet Tower restaurants.

The area itself is dotted with neighbourhood convenience stores, gyms, beauty parlours and spas, restaurants, cafés and the like. The large numbers of hotels contribute to nightly entertainment options. The absence of schools may indicate who the area targets, however, there are some nurseries and it could be a simple space and access issue.

There are many spots on the 'canal' offering boat trips and there are many boardwalks from which to enjoy water views from the start of the marina at Grosvenor House, home to the popular Buddha Bar, to the newer Dubai Marina Yacht Club and beyond.

The Jumeirah Beach Residence beaches are open to the public, although private beach clubs are reportedly under development. The JBR Walk’s beach, eateries, shops and street market are the place to ‘see and be seen’, especially on the weekends. Water sport outlets offer all kinds of related activities and for the fearless there's Skydive Dubai.

Property choices
With well over 150 towers to choose from, built by many different developers, the residential offering differs as widely in quality as in price.   JBR, with 40 towers alone, is a preferred choice for those wanting to be as close to the beach as possible. Meanwhile, Emaar’s own tower developments (the master developer) within Dubai Marina are often named as being among the best for quality and facilities.  

Agent view
(Vineet Kumar
, Associate Director - Asteco Property Management)
The major selling points of Dubai Marina and JBR are the beach access and array of retail choices. In addition the hotels in the neighborhood make it popular with singles and young families. Leasing enquires are higher than sales and the demand comes from a mix of newcomers, who often have visited Dubai before and are familiar with the area as well as people already living in the UAE. Quality developments enjoy high occupancies.

Resident view
(Stephanie Fisher, Consultant)
"The great thing about Dubai Marina is that I can wake up on a Saturday and do everything I want to do on foot, there's no need to hop in the car.."

Area pros

• Vibrant community offering a sociable lifestyle
• Everything within walking distance
• Due to a large offering of properties there are good rental and sales deals available
• Beach and marina access

Area cons

• Most of the 200 plus planned towers have already been completed, however there are still quite a few under construction, related noise when choosing a place to live should be taken into consideration
• Traffic during rush hours entering the marina and JBR Walk on weekends
• Not enough visitor street parking

Note: The planned Al Sufouh Tram running from MoE to and through Dubai Marina connecting with Dubai Metro and Palm Jumeirah’s monorail is expected to relieve traffic and visitor parking congestion (not before 2014)

Photo of Dubai Marina used under creative commons from toastbrot81

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