How did we search for a Whitewill office in Dubai?

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

The office was needed both for registration of the company and for work - our brokers are located there, partners and clients also come here.

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

But when the eighth building in the area was already inspected, it became clear - how uncomfortable and desolate it was. The neighborhood resembled an old dusty abandoned car in the yard. Almost all of the buildings in Business Bay had a view of either the road or the desert. The level of aesthetics of the buildings was not satisfactory either.

The exception was, except for the Opus Business Center by the great Zaha Hadid.

But in it all offices had an area of 300 meters or more, which is a lot for a start, and even without finishing - we would definitely be stuck for six months in the process of project approval and finishing.

The funny thing is that in almost all business centers there are no passes or turnstiles at all. You just walk in and go up to any floor.

And what's particularly interesting is that the doors of all the rental offices were open - you can just walk in there yourself, no realtors or owners. They just tell you the room number on the phone.

That's what a safe country is all about.

I really liked the DIFC district - Dubai International Financial Center. But it turns out we can't open a real estate agency there because it's a freezone.

Freezones in Dubai are areas where companies can only engage in certain activities. DIFC is a place for financial and investment companies, banks and funds. British law applies there instead of local laws. Buildings and landscaping here, by the way, even in mood similar to London.

In Dubai there are freezones for different areas: medicine, it-business, manufacturing, content, games, design, automotive industry, education, jewelry - a total of more than thirty zones for different types of activities, giving special conditions that simplify the licensing and work of companies of a certain type of activity.

But real estate agencies, according to the rules, have to operate in the "mainland", not in the freezone. That's why DIFC wasn't a good fit for us.

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

The lobby inside is pompous, but when we went up to the floor we were sad - uneven walls painted, as in the Soviet entrance, plain white paint without any finishing. It's like the pain of Dubai business centers. It was the same story in the hyped Marina Plaza.

We really liked the office. Classy finishes, well-appointed meeting rooms. It was a bit large though - 320 meters. Such an area would cost 850,000₽ a month. One of the offices attracted attention, the door jambs had already been torn out, beautiful wooden panels had been peeled off the windows, and the carpeting had been removed. The man from the management company admitted that all the trim would be removed, but it would be nice too. There was glue all over the window profile and we don't know how they would remove it without a trace. We have given up on this office.

We ended up choosing an office in the cozy low-rise neighborhood of Greens. Our business center stands next to Sheikh Zayed Road and it's a 10 minute drive to the palm tree, 8 minutes to Dubai Marina, 15 minutes to Down Town and Business Bay. Ideal transportation location for brokers is super important - you can quickly get to any object and without traffic jams to come to the office from any residential area.

We have three buildings in the complex - office, residential and a hotel. This gives super filling: a premium grocery store, a bank, four restaurants, two coffee shops, two cozy lounges with a terrace, a spa, two gyms and even an outdoor pool with a pool bar.

Closed the deal - head down to the spa for a massage or a pre-dinner swim and then take a little nap on a lounger afterward. The high.

Our one hundred and fifty meter office on one of the top floor overlooking the green golf course and Dubai Marina. Completely new with fresh finishes.

There are two metro stations nearby - one is 5 minutes away and the other is a 9 minute walk. The neighborhood is drowning in greenery and mini parks with ponds. It will be one of the most cozy offices of real estate agencies - with care about the team and clients.