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Dubai’s financial free zone expects to attract thousands of residents as it revives its retail offerings to make the precinct a round-the-clock destination.
Currently about 5,000 people live in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) free zone across four towers, The National reported.
With the new Central Park building comprising 426 apartments complete, the developers Dubai Properties Group and Deyaar are handing over the apartments to new residents. Like other global financial centres, footfall tapers off at DIFC’s retail outlets after office hours.
In a bid to reverse that trend and encourage people to stay longer it plans to develop an interconnecting retail “spine” across its buildings that would feature cafes and outdoor spaces with seating areas.
“Malls in Dubai get busy at night and on weekends,” said Brett Schafer, the chief executive of DIFC Properties. “But our retail spine [would be] busy during night and day because we have people living here, and like a downtown, a high traffic area, it would have amenities so that people can remain.”
