Abu Dhabi’s landmark souk to open in January

More than five years after it was launched, Abu Dhabi’s landmark central souk project is poised for a grand opening in January to replace the emirate’s oldest bazaar that saw the transformation of the town into a cosmopolitan city.

The project had been due to be completed in just 18 months but was delayed for technical and economic reasons and for amendments in the development scheme to include three skyscrapers surrounding the souk.

The three-level bazaar has been built on the ashes of the old souk that was destroyed in a massive fire in 2002, nearly 32 years after it was built as a sprawling, shabby marketplace dominated by Iranian, Indian and Pakistani traders and attracting most of Abu Dhabi’s residents in the absence of the giant shopping malls that have now invaded the city of one million people.

The new but traditional souk has around 300 shops, 180 of which have already been rented out. The rest will be leased in the next few weeks head of the inauguration, according to the project owner, Aldar Properties.

“We are offering 286 shops for rent….we have already rented out 180 shops and the rest will be leased in the next weeks,” Mohammed Al-Mubarak, Aldar’s CEO for commercial affairs said in local press comments this week.

“The souk will be officially inaugurated in January but nearly 40 shops are already operating…they involve restaurants and commercial shops.”

Mubarak said Aldar, one of the largest real estate developers in the region, has given shop owners 120 days to complete decoration of their places, adding that such designs have to be approved by the Company.

“We want to ensure the decoration and designs are compatible with the cultural and heritage characteristics of this great place,” he said.

Mubarak did not mention the value of rents but one investor said he had paid Dh250,000 per year for one shop. “I have also paid nearly Dh150,000 for decoration and designs but the type of designs requested by the Company is very costly….I have submitted one design before but it was rejected.”

Mubarak said the souk would be served by a massive free parking space accommodating nearly 5,000 cars at a time. “It will be free only for shoppers…those who come to shop can only produce the purchase bill upon their return to their vehicle so they will be exempted from charges.”

Located across the famous Hamdan and Khalifa streets in the heart of the Abu Dhabi’s city centre, the central market spreads over 14,500 square metres and will be home to a large variety of shops covering food items, clothes, electronics and electrical appliances, sports wear, stationery, restaurants and cafes.

It has already been surrounded by three skyscrapers, including the Central Market Residential Tower, the second tallest building in the capital.

The building will stand 374 metres<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre> tall and contain 88 floors. The complex includes a shorter office and hotel building, which also will be among the tallest in the city. The office tower, called Central Market Commercial Tower, is planned to rise 280 metres and have 60 floors. The shortest building, the Central Market Hotel Tower, is as high as 254 metres and will house 58 floors of hotel space.

“Aldar is not profiting from this project…the only thing that is paid for through the profits are expenses, management of the mall, cleaning and security,” Mubarak said. “Some of the original 286 owners will also be offered retail space in the souk if their businesses are deemed suitable.”

Before it was destroyed by a huge fire in 2002, the old souk had more than 500 shops and it was the most popular market place in the capital during 1970s and 1980s. It began with a few tiny shops in 1969 and snowballed into a full market place two years later as Abu Dhabi began to grow fast with the discovery of oil that turned it from a small town into one of the region’s most modern cities.

The old souk was still operating and bustling through the 1980s despite the mushrooming of major shopping malls and the emergence of high rise towers.

Visiting the souk during that period was like travelling through time. Its dirty little villas were in sharp contrast with the huge malls while the nearby neat streets and surrounding skyscrapers served to underscore that contradiction.

One could smell modernity in those malls and buildings but could still sniff history and genuineness in the souk despite the overpowering stench of broken sewage pipes, dead insects and rodents, and blackened shops that were scorched in a huge fire. But the stench had not dissuaded shoppers from coming to the souk which was still functioning a year after nearly 100 shops were burned down.

Stretching over an area of more than 80,000 square metres, the old souk had been dominated by Asian merchants who sold perfume, incense, clothes, toys, watches, electronics, furniture, jewelry, machinery and other light items.

With the passage of time, the Souk was no longer confined to shopping. On Friday’s and public holidays, it stripped off its commercial dress and donned a social attire. “It was more than a market place…it was like our home…it grew with us and we grew with it,” said Ijaz Khan, a former shop owner at the souk.