I operate White & Co. My property advisory. Out of Control Tower in Motor City. We took three floors. We have been looking for more ever since. That is not a personal anecdote about expansion plans. It is a precise illustration of what Dubai's Grade A office market looks like right now from the inside: a market at an 11-year high with nowhere to go.
The Avenew–Kora joint venture announced in February is planning to build six Grade A office towers directly adjacent to the Dubai Autodrome in Motor City, alongside a hospital and integrated retail. I am not writing about this because it was in the news. I am writing about it because it is one of very few credible responses to a supply problem I am living with every day.
The supply problem is real
Dubai's office market hit an 11-year high in early 2026. Grade A vacancy in the primary commercial districts. DIFC, Downtown, Business Bay. Has compressed to the point where meaningful space is simply not available at any rational occupancy timeline. AHS Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road sold 100% of its strata offices before the structure was complete. ENARA in Marasi Bay was fully sold out before superstructure was reached. These are not isolated data points. They are a pattern.
The commercial side of Dubai has spent the last decade being treated as a secondary consideration by developers, the majority of whose commercial capital went into residential. That imbalance is now visible in the occupancy data. Businesses relocating to Dubai. And there are many of them. Are landing in a market that does not have the inventory to absorb them cleanly. The result is that anyone looking for 5,000 to 15,000 square feet of Grade A space outside DIFC is competing for a very limited stock, often at rents that have risen faster than the surrounding residential market.
Approximately 300,000 square metres of office space is expected to deliver across Dubai in 2026. Historical completion rates suggest the actual number will fall short. Even if it hits the headline figure, the majority of that supply is concentrated in established central hubs. The secondary corridors. Where the majority of mid-market business formation is actually happening. Remain underserved.
Why Motor City is a more credible address than it looks
Motor City has a reputation that is slightly behind its reality. Most people associate it with the Autodrome and think of it as residential-leisure. A place to live near a racetrack, not a place to build a business. That picture is approximately five years out of date.
Control Tower. Which I have operated from since White & Co expanded in Dubai. Is a Grade A commercial landmark at the heart of the district. It sits on Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, giving direct connectivity to both Dubai South and the Jumeirah Lake Towers / Business Bay corridor without the congestion of central Dubai. The journey to DIFC is 20–25 minutes off-peak. Dubai South and Al Maktoum International Airport. The logistics and aviation hub that is already reshaping the emirate's southern commercial geography. Is 30 minutes. For businesses that serve both the central and southern Dubai markets, Motor City is genuinely central in a way that maps don't immediately suggest.
The existing commercial population in Motor City is also not insignificant. Several established businesses. Automotive, logistics-adjacent, media, and professional services. Have chosen the location precisely because of the combination of accessibility, parking ratio and space efficiency that is simply not achievable in DIFC or Downtown at comparable cost. The Autodrome is an event asset, not just a leisure one. It draws corporate hospitality, motorsport business and automotive industry events that create an unusual cross-section of business profiles for the area.
What Avenew and Kora are actually building
The joint venture is between Avenew Development. Led by Rasha Hassan, Managing Partner. And Kora Properties, which is backed by Appcorp Holding, a regional conglomerate with Nilesh Ved as Chairman. The partnership is developing on a prime plot adjacent to the Autodrome. Six Grade A office buildings, a hospital, and an integrated retail mall.
The hospital component is the most unusual element and the one that deserves specific attention. Healthcare integration within a commercial masterplan is not a standard configuration in Dubai. But it is a deliberate one. A hospital within the cluster serves two functions: it draws medical professionals and ancillary healthcare businesses as office tenants, creating a built-in demand anchor that does not depend on the broader speculative office market. And it provides an occupational wellness infrastructure that is increasingly part of corporate tenant decision-making at the senior level. The operator and brand of that hospital will determine whether this thesis holds. It is the detail that will matter most when pre-leasing opens.
The retail component creates a self-contained commercial ecosystem. For businesses choosing between a CBD tower and a suburban campus, the question is always whether the surrounding environment works as a place to spend the working day. A mixed-use cluster with food, wellness and services on site reduces the friction that makes secondary locations feel like a compromise. Done well, it makes them feel like a choice.
"I am looking for more space in Motor City right now and cannot find Grade A supply. That is the market Avenew is entering. The question is not whether there is demand. The question is execution and timing."
The risks
I am not making the case that this project is without risk. Secondary office locations carry specific execution challenges that CBD developments do not, and investors considering the commercial space here should think clearly about three of them.
Absorption sequencing. Six towers is a significant volume for a single location outside the primary office belt. If all six are brought to market simultaneously, the pre-leasing requirement is large. Phasing. Delivering two or three towers first, stabilising occupancy, then proceeding. Is the more defensible approach, but the JV has not yet detailed its sequencing publicly. That matters.
Tenant migration dynamics. Businesses do not move office easily. The tenants most likely to consider Motor City are either new market entrants (who do not have an existing Dubai lease to break) or existing Motor City businesses looking to upgrade within the district. The conversion of DIFC or Downtown tenants requires a significant rent differential to compensate for the prestige cost. And even then, the decision timelines are long. Avenew's business plan should be calibrated against realistic migration, not theoretical demand.
Hospital delivery dependency. The healthcare component is the most differentiated element of the masterplan. If the hospital is delayed or if the operator is not a recognisable brand, its demand-anchor function diminishes substantially. The office towers can stand without it. But the commercial logic of the cluster as a self-sustaining business district is weakened without a credible healthcare offering.
None of these risks make the project wrong. They make it a project where execution detail. Phasing, hospital operator, pre-lease velocity. Matters more than the concept, which is sound.
The demand case for Grade A office supply in Motor City is real. I experience it operationally every week. Avenew and Kora are entering the right market at the right moment with a concept that addresses the specific gap: mixed-use, lower density, connected but not congested. Whether this translates into a strong commercial investment depends entirely on execution. Phasing discipline, hospital operator quality, and pre-leasing velocity. I will be watching the pre-leasing announcements carefully. If the first tower reaches 60–70% committed before construction completes, the rest of the thesis follows. If not, the absorption question becomes the story.
Data sources: Invest Dubai Today (Feb 2026); JLL Dubai Office Market Report 2025–2026; CBRE Dubai Commercial Supply Data. This is an editorial opinion piece, not financial advice. Consult a qualified advisor before making investment decisions.