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Dubai's office boom has produced its biggest launch yet from a developer better known for homes. Ellington Properties and Al Hamra Group have unveiled Berkeley Tower, a Grade A commercial building of more than 60 floors in Business Bay valued at Dh2.8 billion — roughly $762 million. It is the largest and tallest commercial project Ellington has undertaken, a notable turn for a developer whose name has been attached to residential addresses such as Ocean House, Ellington House and One River Point. Al Hamra Group, its partner on the scheme, is a Ras Al Khaimah developer and investor with interests spanning residential, retail, hospitality and leisure.
What is inside the tower
Five floors — ground, mezzanine and three further levels — are given over to shared facilities rather than lettable offices: business lounges and meeting rooms, fitness and wellness areas, open terraces, event and social spaces, a clubhouse and interactive games zones. The building services are pitched at the same register, with robotic parking and double-deck lifts running on destination control. The site sits beside Business Bay Metro Station, with direct connections to Downtown Dubai, DIFC and the emirate's main road network. "Berkeley Tower is a statement of our ambition for Ellington's commercial portfolio," said Joseph Thomas, co-founder of Ellington Properties.
Why Business Bay, and why now
The timing tracks the strongest segment of Dubai's property market. Off-plan office sales reached Dh13.1 billion in the first half of 2026, exceeding the combined total of the previous seven years, and Business Bay led the market, with a handful of towers accounting for the bulk of transaction value. Office sales across the emirate reached about $5.5 billion in the first nine months of the year, roughly 80 per cent of it off-plan. Savills put average Dubai office rents at around $66 per square foot in the third quarter across some 20,200 leasing deals. "Dubai continues to strengthen its position as a global business hub," said Benoy J. Kurien, group chief executive of Al Hamra, pointing to sustained demand for quality commercial space.
What has not been announced yet
The commercial terms are still missing. Ellington has not published pricing or payment plans, and the handover date circulating through brokerage listings — variously given as 2030 or 2031 — has not been confirmed by the developer, which says the binding date will appear in the sale agreement. Floor areas and the number of offices likewise differ between listing sites and should be treated as unverified until the official launch materials are out.
One number is worth keeping in view regardless: Savills expects some 20.4 million square feet of new office space to reach Dubai by 2030. Today's market is tight enough to justify a tower of this size, but a building completing at the end of the decade will open into a considerably more crowded field. For buyers, that makes the ordinary questions decisive — floor plate efficiency, service charges, the quality of the operator and, above all, when the keys actually arrive.
