Dubai Industrial City nearly doubled its number of tenants over past year

Dubai Industrial City signed up 212 new tenants last year, almost doubling the number of firms located on the park.

The industrial estate said it had increased the number of tenants to a total of 471 last year, leasing more than 5 million square feet of factory and warehouse space on the 55 square kilometre park, which stretches from Jebel Ali to the Abu Dhabi border.

New industrial tenants signing up over the year included Al Barakah Dates Factory and Interpro Wood Industries. Warehouse tenants included Juma Al Majid, Home Centre, Al Gurg Unilever and Al Futtaim Logistics, which have occupied a combined area of more than 940,000 sq ft.

Dubai Industrial City, which is one of 10 connected business parks formed by Tecom, a subsidiary of the state-controlled Dubai Holding, declined to say how much rent it was receiving in total from the park.

The industrial estate has so far spent a total of Dh6 billion (US$1.63bn), with Dh2bn of that coming from investors.

Quoting rents for warehouses stood at about Dh22 to Dh25 per sq ft per year. Quoting rents for industrial land on which firms can develop factories were about Dh2.5 to Dh3.5 per sq ft per year.

The company said it had completed work on 7 million sq ft of warehouses, of which 85 per cent was now leased.

It had also completed work on three 12,000-bed labour villages which it was leasing at a rate of Dh380 per bed per year.

"We expect a growth in the demand from local and regional companies for industrial products and various services offered by Dubai Industrial City," said Abdullah Belhoul, the managing director of Dubai Industrial City.

"These companies are actually benefiting from the overall growth of the local economy and the industrial sector."

Last January the estate launched a second phase of 3.5 million sq ft of warehouses and showrooms at a cost of Dh750 million.

lbarnard@thenational.ae