Another little bit of Moscow in Dubai Marina

Russians have brought glamour and sky-high rents to 'Marinagrad'

September 13, 2024, 11:45 AM

An experience too far? The Octagon development (front centre) on Dubai Marina

I do love my little quartier at the north end of Dubai Marina in the Marina Towers complex.

It is the most convenient and accessible part of the Marina sprawl, and since its development in the early 2000s by property giant Emaar has become perhaps the most successful urban development in the city.

It’s mixed use residential and commercial property, all built around the three-kilometre long Marina that was scooped out of the desert and filled with water from the Arabian Gulf, trumpeted as the biggest man-made marina in the world.

Newsletter
Get the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week

I love it so much that I paid an 85 percent increase in rent on my last tenancy renewal to stay in the same building, swapping a fifth-floor apartment for one on the tenth floor with stunning full-length views of the Marina.

So what if it became known as “Marinagrad” locally after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022?

Say what you like about our Russian friends, at least they bring colour and glamour to the locality, and know how to have a good time – even if they’ve helped drive up rental levels to eye-watering levels, as I can testify.

But just lately there have been rumours and mutterings among the locals about some changes to the waterfront walk that every night (humidity permitting these past few months) stages the Marina promenade of beautiful people enjoying the high-rise spectacle all round.

For some time now, a building known as the Octagon has been mysteriously under refurbishment, right in front of my panoramic balcony.

I knew the building in its previous incarnation as a Reem Al Bawadi restaurant, before that popular chain closed down sometime before the pandemic.

The branch in Marina really was good, serving decent Lebanese and Middle East food over three floors with spectacular Marina views.

For a while, it even had an artificial “desert” outside – really just a big sandpit but somewhere you could take your shoes off and feel the sand between your toes as you dipped your pitta in the humus.

Since it closed, the Octagon has been shrouded in hoarding advertising the “London Project” – the name of a successful F&B development beneath the Dubai Eye currently immobile wheel on Bluewater Island, not so far away.

More recently, it began to display signs saying District 8, and promising a new “experience” coming the way of Marinagraders.

The pace of work has picked up too, with definite signs that it is intending to open soon, though still surrounded in scaffolding and dust curtains.

Construction, Architecture, Building — District 8 – ‘Marina’s newest jewel’ in progress

The refurbishment is not particularly noisy or obtrusive. It does spoil the view a bit, but you get used to these temporary first-world problems in a fast-changing city like Dubai.

The District 8 LinkedIn page calls the Octagon “Marina’s newest jewel, featuring three luxurious venues with direct yacht access, offering seamless transitions between fine dining and lively entertainment.

“Enjoy the ultimate evening experience in one prime location, perfect for both land and sea arrivals,” it gushes.

Well, I’m all for a bit of “ultimate evening experience”, so I was looking forward to its arrival.

That was until the other night, chatting to a neighbour on Marina Walk after my nightly leg-stretch.

“It’s going to be a Russian nightclub,” he told me. A frisson went down my spine.

A venue on my very doorstep offering all the glamour and hedonism for which Russian nightclubs are renowned? A convenient place for a late nightcap without having to get in an Uber? Great!

On the other hand, a noisy early-hours hotspot right on my doorstep in a fairly family-oriented community that is normally asleep no later than midnight? Not so great.

Also, unless it is going to be a teetotal venue (a rare concept in the Russian leisure market) there is no obvious way District 8 will be able to get an alcohol licence, unconnected as it is to any local hospitality establishment.

I cannot say with any confidence that the development will eventually open as a full-on Russian nightclub. Calls to Emaar Malls and Alex Hospitality – both named on the hoarding – drew a blank.

I suppose we’ll know in a few months, when District 8 opens its doors, whether there’s another little bit of Moscow in the Marina.

Frank Kane is Editor-at-Large of AGBI and an award-winning business journalist. He acts as a consultant to the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia and is a media adviser to First Abu Dhabi Bank of the UAE