'Female Burj Khalifa' to be built in Dubai

Mohammed Alabbar, the founder of Emaar and Noon, has announced the construction of a "female" Burj Khalifa called the Dubai Creek Tower.

Customers will be able to drive electric automobiles through this future mall in Dubai, according to Khaleej Times.

He disclosed during a speech at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF) 2024 that the mall would be situated in Dubai Creek Harbour. “We are trying something exciting,” he said. 

“This will be the first time cars can enter a mall so it will be very unique. We did not come up with this ourselves, we learnt it from somewhere.”

Alabbar was open about his insights and failures during a session titled "Towering Success: What It Takes to Build a Business Empire." 

He explained why the company decided to scrap its plans to build a kilometre-long tower at the location. “We realised we made a mistake,” he said. “We build these towers because we make money out of the apartments that look at the tower. We don’t make any money from the tower. Like how everyone in Paris wants an apartment overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Our buildings are only 50-storey tall so why do we have to build a tower that is one kilometre tall?”

He added that the business viewed the Creek skyscraper as the "female" Burj Khalifa and that the tower's initial appearance will be shown in the coming months. With its six million square metre footprint, the Dubai Creek Harbour project is envisioned as the "new downtown".

The 66-year-old also spoke about how his life had changed since Emaar became a publicly listed company. “If you have a listed company, you have tell people every 90 days what you have done, it is a big challenge,” he said. 

“You can’t hide. These days, if I go visit a city and news gets out about it, a letter from the stock market comes asking me what I am doing there, what investment I will do and what the feasibility is like.”

However, he said he enjoyed the challenge because it gave him discipline. “There are a lot of processes and safety because you are dealing with public money,” he said. 

“It really teaches you great discipline. I think it makes you a better person because everything has to be planned.”