The Yards Plaza: would we buy an office here?

Transcript

The Yards Plaza by BEYOND: is this one of Dubai's best new commercial opportunities? Dubai commercial property is having a serious moment. Office occupancy rates are extremely high, rents have been climbing, businesses continue to move into Dubai. And suddenly, investors who, perhaps in the last five years, used to ask, which one bedroom apartment can I buy, are now asking, should we be buying office space instead? And honestly, we understand why.

October 19th BEYOND is launching a brand new commercial development called The Yards Plaza and this is one that we think investors should pay huge attention to. Not just because it's new but because the project combines a few things that really come together. A serious developer, a growing commercial market, a proper master community, a genuinely differentiated building, a relatively accessible price point and a product that importantly we can actually imagine a business wanting to occupy in three to four years time. So in this video we're going to break down the project, the location, the numbers, the commercial market and ultimately answer the only question that really matters. Would we put our own money into it?

So first, why is Dubai commercial property getting so much attention? Let's start with the bigger picture because we never look at anything or any project in isolation. You can show us the nicest swimming pool, the best lobby, the nicest brochure here in the UAE. If we don't understand why somebody will actually want this property in the future, or now, we're not interested. And the commercial story in Dubai is very strong.

Office occupancy rates are sitting at 94%. Office rents have continued to increase as well. But here's the statistic we really think puts the demand story into perspective. In 2025 alone, 71,830 new companies joined the Dubai Chamber of Commerce. That's roughly 197 new companies every single day.

And by the end of that year, the chamber had approximately 292,000 active companies. That number has grown more than 13% in just 12 months and the momentum hasn't suddenly stopped. In March 2026 alone, another 2,709 companies joined the chamber. That's almost 90 businesses a day during that month. Think about what that actually means.

Every day, companies are being created. Businesses are relocating here. Existing companies are also expanding. Entrepreneurs are arriving. International firms are choosing Dubai as their regional base.

And every one of those businesses eventually needs infrastructure. It needs banking, people, services, and somewhere to operate from. That's why we don't look at Dubai's commercial market as a temporary trend. There's actually enough of an economic engine sitting directly underneath it. Dubai also has consistently ranked as one of the very top globally for attracting new greenfield foreign direct investments.

So you're not just simply relying on local entrepreneurs opening businesses, you're seeing international capital, international companies entering the market as well. But the interesting part isn't something that companies need in office, it's the type of office they are needing which is changing. 10 years ago an office would essentially be four walls, fluorescent lights, a coffee machine, that probably would have done the job. But now companies are competing for talents, they want somewhere where employees enjoy working, They want good access, parking, restaurants, a gym perhaps, outdoor space, meeting areas, a building that looks good when clients actually arrive and increasingly the office itself is becoming part of the company's identity. That creates what we call a flight to quality and that's exactly where The Yards Plaza starts to become very interesting.

Number two, what exactly are you buying? The Yards Plaza is developed by BEYOND which sits within the OMNIYAT Group. And straight away, that gives us a lot more confidence because in off-plan in the market, the developer matters enormously, especially in commercial. You're buying something today that isn't expected to be handing over until Q3, 2029. So we're not just underwriting a building, we're underwriting the entirety behind it.

Can they deliver? Can they design? Can they create something that people actually want to occupy when it's finished? The Yards Plaza sits within The Yards, which is BEYOND's wider master development in City of Arabia. There are 272 office units across the four blocks.

And what we like is that these are predominantly tiny investor boxes. Around 63% of the inventory, 172 offices, sits around 1300 to 1500 plus square feet. Then you have the large units, moving in roughly 1700 to 2000 square feet and even 3000 plus square feet. You can even look at half floors or full floors. That tells us they're building for actual businesses, not just investors buying a door with an office number on it.

Number three, The Yards Plaza, what makes it different? Now, we probably get to the favorite part of the project because The Yards Plaza isn't really like a traditional office building. They're creating something so much more, more of a business lifestyle destination. You have more than 40,000 square feet of terraces, a gym that exceeds six and a half thousand square feet, a business lounge, garden lounges, padel courts, a half Olympic size swimming pool with a waterfall in it. Retail, restaurants, outdoor areas, a central plaza designed for events and activation.

Visually, the offices almost appear to float over the retail and the landscaped environment. And this is not something that just looks good on an Instagram reel. From an investor's perspective, it matters because one of the biggest mistakes we see investors making is thinking about just the person buying today but we're thinking about the future customer who is it that's going to be renting this office from you in 2030. Imagine you're running a successful company and you're choosing between two offices one of which is an older building the reception looks like it hasn't changed in 10 in 15 years, there's nowhere to eat, the gym has three treadmills, if it has one, or you walked into a landscaped environment with restaurants, terraces, a serious gym, pool, outdoor spaces, high quality offices, which one are you choosing? More importantly, which one are you willing to pay for more? That is the investment case.

Fourth part is the location, and location is always important. And we always think about the location now before the premium arrives. Now let's talk about City of Arabia and this is where we think investors need to understand the strategy properly. If you want an office in DIFC today, you could buy one, but you're paying DIFC prices today. There's no secret there.

You're already paying for a mature market that has matured. The Yards Plaza is a different strategy. Here you're buying into a part of Dubai that is already developing. The City of Arabia sits around the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road corridor, close to IMG Worlds, Global Village, with major surrounding residential development and future infrastructure continuing to expand. And for us, that's actually where the opportunity sits.

Because the biggest returns in Dubai historically haven't always come from the place that everybody agrees is prime right now. They've often come from recognising where the city is going before everyone else decides to get in. Think of infrastructure like a game of chess. It's not just about what's in the area currently, but it's also about what's coming to the area that's really important. Everything that's going to impact the desirability and the value of the area.

Improving connectivity, additional roads, residential growth, a master plan developed around the project creates so much more of a longer term ecosystem. And because The Yards itself is mixed use, you're not only buying into an isolated office block in the middle of nowhere, you have a residential, retail, commercial, hospitality, landscaping, public areas. And that's the idea, is that these things eventually feed into one another. So we see the location as buying before the maturity and the premium rather than after it.

Now let's look at the money. Starting prices are approximately from 2.85 million dirhams and the payment plan is 40/60. So you're paying 40% during construction and 60% on handover in Q3 2029. And we like that structure because if you're buying commercial property today, cash efficiency matters. You don't need to deploy the entire capital immediately.

You're controlling an asset today while a large portion of the capital stays with you until completion. But this is where we separate investing from simply buying a property. We don't buy something because the payment plan looks attractive. You could put a bad investment on a fantastic payment plan. What we actually want to understand is what could this office realistically be worth and what could it rent for when it's complete?

And when we look at the direction of Dubai's commercial market, growing emphasis on Grade A workspace, and the comparisons to their competitors, this is where the numbers start to get interesting.

Next, the real investment thesis. For us, the investment thesis comes down to this. Dubai does not simply need more offices, it needs better offices, and there's a huge difference. Remember those numbers from earlier? More than 71,000 companies joined Dubai Chamber in just one year.

300,000 active member companies were already operating by the end of 2025. And Dubai's economic agenda, D33, is targeting doubling the size of the economy by 2033. So demand is growing. But over the next few years, more commercial supply is going to enter the market. And we actually think that projects like this are more interesting, not less.

Because when customers or clients have more choice, they become more selective. Average buildings become harder to rent out. Great buildings become easier to distinguish. So when we're looking at something competing in three years time, we want to own the products that can compete in a market which shouldn't have options. Better design, better amenities, better environment, better developer, better experience.

And that's exactly why we like this. We're not betting that every office in Dubai will go up. We're betting that businesses will continue to pay the premiums for the right office. That is a much stronger investment thesis.

Then why do we think the smaller offices could be the sweet spot? One part of the investment really stands out to us. 1300 to 1500 square foot units, why? Because you have a very large universe of companies that sit in that middle ground. They've outgrown tiny offices, but they have nowhere near a requiring of half a floor.

Consultancies, professional service firms, tech companies, real estate businesses, finance businesses, family offices, regional teams. When you've got tens of thousands of new companies entering Dubai's ecosystem every year, that SME and growing company segment becomes very interesting. For those type of occupiers, that sweet spot on the square foot is usually the size they look for. And because 63% of the inventory sits in that bracket, BEYOND clearly understands that demand profile. And obviously that doesn't mean every unit is equal.

When inventory opens, we'd still be looking for position, views, layout, parking, lift proximity, efficiency, price per square foot, and ultimately the ticket price, because we would always rather own the best unit in a great project than the wrong unit in a great project. So who should actually buy this? We see three particular interesting buying profiles here. First, residential investor looking to diversify. Maybe you already own a property here in the UAE.

Commercial property gives you different exposures, a different tenant profile, and potentially a different yield structure. Second, the yield-focused investor. Someone who isn't obsessing over flipping in the next six months, but wants to own an income-producing asset that's going to be growing alongside the business market. And third, probably the most interesting, business owners themselves. If you're running a business in the UAE today, or you're looking to relocate here, or you need larger premises, this could be for you.

Why not analyse the economics of owning rather than renting? You could potentially lock in a 2026 purchase price, pay only 40% before completion, and eventually you own the premises before your company even operates for them. You're effectively turning what would otherwise be a rent or expense into an asset. For the right opportunity, that's a very interesting conversation.

And finally, our verdict. So would we invest into The Yards Plaza? Yes, we absolutely would. And we'd probably be more interested in that than a lot of the residential launches currently come to market. Why?

Because this gives us something different. We have a genuine commercial demand story. We have a recognised developer. We have a master community. We have a building that is differentiated from the older buildings that are currently available.

We have an entry point starting from just under 3 million dirhams, rather than needing 10 to 20 million dirhams to access the same quality of commercial real estate. And we have a payment plan structure that gives us time before we need to deploy the majority of the capital. And most importantly, we can answer our favorite investment question. Why is somebody going to want this from us in the future? With The Yards Plaza, we think there's a very clear answer because the way we work is changing.

The type of offices companies want is changing. The number of businesses operating in Dubai is growing and Dubai itself is changing. The opportunity is identifying those changes early enough to actually benefit from them. The project is going to launch on October the 19th, and it's most likely going to sell out on the actual day. So if it's of consideration to yourself, it's important to get your ducks in a row.

We've provided a link below where you can talk to myself or one of our team directly to have a one-on-one consultation, and we'll effectively build up a bit of an investment roadmap. Click on the link below to find out more, and we'll guide you every step of the way.