How we looked for the Whitewill office in Dubai

The photo shows the cozy lobby of our business center in Dubai. Let us tell you a little about how we chose our office.

The office was needed both for company registration and for work — our brokers have settled in here, and partners and clients also come here.

In three days, the founder of Whitewill, Oleg Torbosov, visited 16 business centers. Almost all consultants suggested considering offices in the Business Bay district.

But after inspecting the eighth building in this district, it became clear — how uncomfortable and deserted it feels here. The district resembled an old, dusty car abandoned in a yard. From almost all buildings in Business Bay, the view was either of a road or the desert. The aesthetic level of the buildings was also unsatisfactory.

The only exception was the Opus business center by the great Zaha Hadid.

But in that building, all offices were 300 square meters or larger, which is a bit too much for a startup, especially without finishing — we would have definitely been stuck in design approval and finishing processes for six months.

It's interesting that almost all business centers have no access passes or turnstiles at all. You just walk in and go up to any floor.

And what's especially interesting is that the doors of all available offices were open — you can just walk in yourself, without realtors or owners. They simply tell you the room number over the phone.

That's what a safe country means.

We really liked the DIFC district — Dubai International Financial Center. But it turned out we cannot open a real estate agency there because this location is within a free zone.

Free zones in Dubai are areas where companies can only engage in specific types of activities. DIFC is a place for financial and investment companies, banks, and funds. Instead of local laws, English law applies there. The buildings and landscaping here, by the way, even feel similar to London.

Dubai has free zones for different sectors: medicine, IT business, manufacturing, content, gaming, design, automotive, education, jewelry — more than thirty zones in total for different types of activities, offering special conditions that simplify licensing and operations for companies in specific fields.

But real estate agencies, by the rules, must operate on the mainland, not in a free zone. So DIFC was not suitable for us.

After sixteen buildings, two made it to the finals: Boulevard Plaza in Downtown and Onyx Tower in The Greens. Boulevard Plaza is located near Burj Khalifa and is connected by a covered passage to Dubai Mall.

The lobby inside is pompous, but when we went upstairs, we felt disappointed — uneven walls painted with ordinary white paint, like in a Soviet stairwell, with no finishing at all. This is a real pain point for Dubai business centers. The same story was in the hyped Marina Plaza.

We really liked one office. Great finishing, well-equipped meeting rooms. True, it was a bit too large — 320 square meters. Such an area would cost 850,000 rubles per month. One of the offices caught our attention — the door frames had already been torn out, beautiful wooden panels had been peeled off the windows, and they had started removing the carpet.

A person from the management company admitted that all the finishing would be demolished, but it would still be nice. The entire window profile was covered in glue, and we don't know how they would have removed it without leaving marks. We turned down this office.

In the end, we chose an office in the cozy low-rise district of The Greens. Our business center stands right next to Sheikh Zayed Road, and it is a 10-minute drive to Palm Jumeirah, 8 minutes to Dubai Marina, and 15 minutes to Downtown and Business Bay. An ideal transport location is super important for brokers — you can quickly reach any property and get to the office from any residential area without traffic jams.

Our complex has three buildings — office, residential, and a hotel. This provides superb amenities: a premium grocery store, a bank, four restaurants, two coffee shops, two cozy lounges with a terrace, a spa salon, two gyms, and even an outdoor pool with a pool bar.

Closed a deal — head down to the spa for a massage or take a swim before lunch, and then nap a bit on a lounge chair. Bliss.

Our office is 150 square meters on one of the upper floors with a view of a green golf course and Dubai Marina. Brand new with fresh finishing.

There are two metro stations nearby — a 5-minute walk to one, a 9-minute walk to the other. The neighborhood is full of greenery and small parks with ponds. This will be one of the coziest real estate agency offices — with care for the team and clients.