Downtown / Business Bay is a prime-tier Class A submarket of Dubai with average asking rent around AED 220/sqft/yr · ≈ $59.8 PSF/yr USD.

  • Largest contiguous floor plates.
  • One Za'abeel anchored 2024 trophy delivery.
  • Burj Khalifa adjacency.

Downtown / Business Bay, Dubai — Class A submarket

Largest contiguous trophy floor plates. · Tier: prime · Avg rent: AED 220/sqft/yr · ≈ $59.8 PSF/yr USD

TL;DR

  • Largest contiguous floor plates.
  • One Za'abeel anchored 2024 trophy delivery.
  • Burj Khalifa adjacency.

Overview

Downtown Dubai and Business Bay together hold the largest contiguous trophy floor plates in the city. One Za'abeel anchored 2024 deliveries.

Tenant profile

Corporate HQs, professional services, regional headquarters.

Typical specification

30-50,000 sqft floor plates.

Transit

Dubai Metro Red Line (Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Business Bay).

Strong metro access plus arterial road network.

Amenities

Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, Souk Al Bahar.

Comparable buildings

  • One Za'abeel
  • Boulevard Plaza

Where Downtown / Business Bay sits in Dubai

Downtown / Business Bay is one of 6 Class A submarkets we cover in Dubai, classified as prime tier with an average asking rent around AED 220/sqft/yr · ≈ $59.8 PSF/yr USD. Compared with the broader Dubai Class A stock, Downtown / Business Bay typically attracts Corporate HQs, professional services, regional headquarters and competes most directly with the city's other prime submarkets on building specification, transit access, and amenitisation.

Adjacent submarkets to study alongside Downtown / Business Bay: DIFC, Internet City & Media City, Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina & JLT. The full Dubai submarket atlas is at /cities/dubai.

Topic deep-dives for Downtown / Business Bay

For an institutional Class A occupier evaluating Downtown / Business Bay, the highest-leverage analyses to commission next are the rent benchmark, the concession-package comparable, and the ESG performance baseline. Class A Atlas covers each as a dedicated topic page for this submarket:

Related glossary

Terminology specific to Dubai Class A leasing and to the prime tier: Class A, Trophy asset, Effective rent, Concession package, TI allowance, Submarket tier.

Editorial provenance

Reviewed by Samuel Okafor — EMEA contributing editor. Last updated 2026-04-15. See our methodology and editorial standards.

Primary sources for this page

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