As usual, other things cropped up and I didn't get around to it.
But here it is, better late than never.
JBR is the largest single development of course, but the rest of Dubai Marina is bigger and with more variety. And it's beginning to come together, beginning to look good and is, at a guess, maybe 70% finished.
The first section to open was Phase One, which must go back just over three years.
It looks pretty good at night...
Phase One is where the first shops and restaurants to open are located. A Spinneys supermarket, bookshop, pharmacy, dry cleaner, about twenty restaurants, the all-important Baskin Robbins ice cream and more.
The rest was a construction site until fairly recently, but now there's more finished than is being built so it's starting to look good and you can walk around much of it.
The boats moored on the right of the next photo are in front of the about-to-open Yacht Club...
...which looks like this from the street side...
...and includes restaurants on the water side...
Looking across to JBR, the Marina-front towers break up the monotony of the towers in that development...
The walkway which will eventuall run all around the Marina is almost all walkable now, just the inevitable-for-Dubai construction sites here and there blocking the way.
The bridges are modern, concrete but elegant, and there are now five rather than the original, inadequate four. And the new shopping mall, gourmet tower and offices/residence are well on the way to completion - that's the development in the centre-background of this shot, beyond the bridge...
Even the street running between JBR and the Marina-front towers is beginning to look reasonable, at least there's some space and pleasant landscaping...
And the non-iconic apartment blocks, especially the low-rise at the southern end, are finished, fully occupied and many now have small shops and cafes operating.
The roads were finished, to the completely inept original plan, and they were dug up soon after they opened. The're now nearing re-completion. From Sheikh Zayed Road there's Interchange 5 at the northern end, completed some months ago, and the new Interchange 5.5 at the southern end which has started to open gradually.
The roads were finished, to the completely inept original plan, and they were dug up soon after they opened. The're now nearing re-completion. From Sheikh Zayed Road there's Interchange 5 at the northern end, completed some months ago, and the new Interchange 5.5 at the southern end which has started to open gradually.
At the northern end on the JBR side the roads and bridge were also finished then had to be demolished as the original design would have been just about adequate for a village of about twenty cottages. New bridges and new roads are, I guess, about half finished. They not only have to provide access for several thousand people but also for the Al Sufouh Tram which will circle the Marina.
So if you add this to the previous post about JBR you'll get an idea of what's going on with Dubai Marina.
5 comments:
It looks a little like Darling Harbour in Sydney -- But why is there not a single person in any of those photos? Where ARE all the people??
Lynda they were taken at about 10 o'clock on a working morning, so people were at their offices. And I was taking shots of the views and buildings, so I didn't include people. Mrs Seabee nags me all the time for that!
It's much bigger than Darling Harbour - close to 100 towers, 4 km long, there will be maybe 100,000 people living in it when it's fully occupied. That's the same population, roughly, as Cairns.
Wow, will have to go have 'a look see' when it's completed. Those yachts are just amazing, only a dream for me.
I get the feeling the people that build these places, purposely underestimate the roads, utilities etc. to keep themselves in a job. Why do it properly when you can spend the next few months fixing it and still getting paid to do it. There's a conspiracy there I'm sure of it.
Incredible photos! I'll be there in a few weeks and am really looking forward to seeing it in person. Really enjoy your blog.
Thanks BbB, enjoy your time here.
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