City Tower 1 Area Guide: Elegant Residential Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road

For decades, a modest 16-storey building called City Tower One held a corner plot on Sheikh Zayed Road, in the shadow of the Emirates Towers. That building is gone now. In its place, H&H Development is raising a 93-storey, 362.8-metre mixed-use tower that carries the same name but almost nothing else in common with its predecessor — a fact that, on its own, has confused a fair number of property searchers trying to figure out which “City Tower 1” they’re actually looking at.

That confusion is the real starting point for this guide. Search for City Tower 1 today and you’ll find a developer page with bare specifications, an architect’s portfolio page full of design language but no practical detail, and a handful of brokerage listings that repeat the same boilerplate paragraph across several unrelated properties. None of them tell you that the unit count has been quoted three different ways, or that the freehold status of this specific stretch of Sheikh Zayed Road changed materially in January 2025 — both of which matter if you’re deciding whether to put money into this building.

This article pulls together what’s verifiable from the developer’s own site, the project’s architects, Dubai’s construction-tracking databases, and the Dubai Land Department, and is explicit about where sources disagree. By the end, you’ll know exactly where City Tower 1 sits, who’s building it, what it will offer, what it will likely cost to buy or rent, and what to check before you sign anything.

What Is City Tower 1?

City Tower 1 is a 93-storey, 362.8-metre mixed-use skyscraper under construction on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai’s Trade Centre First district. Developed by H&H Development with The Galleria Investment and designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, it combines roughly 600+ residential apartments, dedicated office floors, and ground-floor retail, with completion targeted for 2026. It replaces the original 16-storey City Tower, which was demolished on the same plot.

Quick Facts at a Glance

A note on the numbers: City Tower 1 is still an active off-plan construction project, and figures published at different stages of planning don’t always match later ones — that’s normal for a tower of this scale, not a red flag. Where this guide cites two figures, always confirm the current one directly with H&H Development or a RERA-registered broker before transacting.

Location and Connectivity on Sheikh Zayed Road

City Tower 1 sits on a deep plot in Trade Centre First, a district that runs along Sheikh Zayed Road between the Trade Centre Roundabout and the wider Downtown corridor. The site is unusual in that it spans through to Al Badaa Road via Eleventh Street at the rear, which is how the development fits both a tall residential tower and a separate parking structure onto one plot — the two are linked by a pedestrian bridge rather than sharing a single podium.

The building stands close to the Emirates Towers and within view of the Museum of the Future, in the part of Sheikh Zayed Road that has become Dubai’s “Future District” — the cluster connecting the Dubai World Trade Centre, Emirates Towers, and the Dubai International Financial Centre into one continuous business and lifestyle corridor.

Distances and travel times

For comparison, Latifa Tower — another mixed-use Sheikh Zayed Road address a short distance away — sits roughly a 7-minute walk from the same Emirates Towers Metro Station, which gives a sense of how tightly clustered this stretch of the road really is.

The Story Behind City Tower 1: From the Old Tower to a New Landmark

The plot at 50 Sheikh Zayed Road wasn’t empty land. It was the site of the original City Tower One. This 16-storey building was demolished to make way for the current project — a detail construction-industry trackers note explicitly but most consumer-facing listings skip entirely. That redevelopment pattern is common on Sheikh Zayed Road, where land values along the corridor have made low-rise buildings from the 1990s and early 2000s increasingly uneconomical compared with a 90-plus-storey replacement on the same footprint.

H&H Development’s own project page dates the start of the development to 2018, while construction-tendering records (METenders) and several brokerage pages describe active construction beginning around 2022. Read together, this suggests a multi-year gap between initial planning/demolition and the start of physical tower construction — again, a normal pattern for a project of this scale rather than a discrepancy to be worried about.

Developer and Architectural Pedigree

H&H Development was established in 2007 by Shahab Lutfi and Mohamed Al Hussaini. The company’s portfolio spans development, leasing and facility management, procurement, and interior design, and City Tower 1 is being delivered jointly with The Galleria Investment, which appears as a co-developer/owner in several industry databases.

Pelli Clarke & Partners — the firm behind the tower’s architecture — is known internationally for tall, glass-skinned skyscrapers, and its design notes for City Tower One describe the building as sitting “across from Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future,” with lead architects Mark R. Shoemaker and Darin C. Cook framing the project as a quietly luxurious, restrained addition to the skyline rather than a shouting one. The firm’s design vocabulary for the tower includes a champagne-toned glass façade, vertical sunshades, a striped frit-glass pattern to manage Dubai’s sun exposure, and a stone-clad base anchoring the tower visually at street level.

ERGA Progress Engineering Consultants is named as the structural/MEP engineering consultant in construction-tracking records.

Tower Specifications: Height, Floors, and Unit Count

This is the section where public sources disagree most, so it’s worth laying the figures out side by side rather than picking one and hoping it’s right.

The most defensible reading: treat the developer’s own current project page (93 floors, 362.8 m, 695 units) as the operative figure, since it’s the most recently published and the source with the most to lose from being wrong. The 608-apartment figure that recurs across several portals likely reflects the residential component specifically, with the remaining unit count made up of office and retail spaces — which would make the two figures complementary rather than contradictory. The 83-floor figure from tender records is most likely an earlier design iteration before the floor count was revised upward.

Apartment Types, Layouts, and Interiors

City Tower 1’s residential offer is positioned as modern high-rise apartments with a smaller collection of premium units on higher floors that get larger floor plates and clearer sightlines toward the Arabian Gulf and Downtown Dubai. Interiors follow a clean, contemporary brief: floor-to-ceiling glazing in living areas, fitted kitchens, built-in wardrobes, en-suite bathrooms for bedrooms, and private balconies. The office floors sit on a separate part of the tower with their own lobby and access control, keeping residential and commercial traffic apart — a detail that matters for a building combining both uses in one structure.

Exact unit-type breakdowns (studio through multi-bedroom configurations) and floor plans have not been consistently published across sources at the time of writing. If you’re seriously evaluating a unit, request the current floor-plan pack directly from H&H Development or an authorised broker, since off-plan layouts can be revised between launch and handover.

Amenities and Lifestyle Facilities

Read across enough listings for City Tower 1 and you’ll notice the amenity descriptions don’t quite match — because the project actually has two distinct amenity zones, and most pages collapse them into one undifferentiated list.

The podium/parking-building deck. H&H’s own description places a gym, an indoor kids’ play area, an outdoor playground, separate pools for adults and children, a mini soccer field, and two padel courts on top of the nine-storey parking structure, reached from the tower via a connecting bridge. This is the family- and sports-oriented tier.

The tower’s resident deck. The architect’s material separately describes an infinity pool, a tennis court, a full-service fitness facility, a yoga studio, a residential lounge, and a secondary pool/recreation area for younger residents, set within landscaped green space with views toward the Gulf and Burj Khalifa.

Ground-floor retail brings convenience and food and beverage options to street level, and the building’s grand porte-cochère — a covered, light-filled entrance — is one of the architectural focal points of the design, intended to create a sense of arrival distinct from a typical residential lobby.

Is City Tower 1 a Freehold Property? Ownership Rules Explained

This is the question most competing pages either get wrong or simply avoid, and it’s worth being precise about it.

Historically, much of Sheikh Zayed Road — including Trade Centre First — was not sold to non-GCC foreign buyers on a full freehold basis; older central Dubai districts typically used leasehold or usufruct structures of up to 99 years instead. That changed materially in January 2025, when the Dubai Land Department announced that private property owners along a defined stretch of Sheikh Zayed Road — specifically from the Trade Centre Roundabout to the Dubai Water Canal — and in Al Jaddaf could convert their holdings to full freehold ownership, with 128 plots along Sheikh Zayed Road made eligible for conversion under that decision.

Trade Centre First sits within that corridor. That doesn’t automatically mean every unit in City Tower 1 carries freehold title for foreign buyers by default — conversion applies plot by plot, and the only way to be certain is to check the specific plot and unit status through the Dubai Land Department or the Dubai REST app, or to have a RERA-registered broker confirm the registered tenure type before you sign a Memorandum of Understanding. If you’re buying as a non-GCC national, treat this as a mandatory verification step, not a formality.

Investment Snapshot: Pricing, Yields, and Payment Considerations

Published pricing for City Tower 1 varies by source and by unit type, with one portal citing an average sale price in the high single-digit millions of AED and another referencing a lower average launch price — the gap most likely reflects the difference between premium higher-floor units and standard apartments rather than a pricing error. Treat any specific figure you see online as indicative until you have a current quote from the developer or a licensed agent, since off-plan pricing on towers still under construction is revised as phases release.

A few things are fixed regardless of unit price, and are worth knowing before you negotiate:

1. Escrow protection. Off-plan payments in Dubai are legally required to sit in an RERA-regulated escrow account, released to the developer only as construction milestones are met — this protects buyer funds if a project is delayed.
2. DLD transfer fee. Property transfers are subject to a 4% Dubai Land Department fee, payable at registration.
3. Golden Visa threshold. A property purchase of AED 2 million or more currently qualifies a buyer for a renewable 10-year UAE Golden Visa, which is relevant for several of City Tower 1’s higher-floor premium units.
4. Service charges. As a mixed-use tower with extensive shared amenities across two separate amenity decks, expect service charges toward the higher end of the typical Dubai range — confirm the projected service charge rate before purchase, since it materially affects net rental yield.

For context on the wider corridor, Sheikh Zayed Road as a whole recorded more than 13,000 rental transactions and over AED 1.1 billion in sales activity in a recent 12-month period, according to Dubai Land Department figures — a useful indicator of liquidity for the area, separate from City Tower 1’s individual project performance.

City Tower 1 Compared to Other Sheikh Zayed Road Towers

Once finished, City Tower 1 will stand notably taller than its near neighbour the Emirates Towers complex, and will be one of the tallest mixed-use residential additions to this stretch of Sheikh Zayed Road in years. For a sense of how this compares to other “landmark twin-tower” or signature-tower developments elsewhere in the city, see J One in Business Bay or Le Reve Tower in Dubai Marina — different submarkets, but a useful benchmark for what “iconic tower” positioning typically includes in Dubai’s current cycle.

Who Is City Tower 1 Suited For?

End-user professionals working in DIFC, the World Trade Centre, or Downtown will find the walk-to-metro, walk-to-office positioning hard to match elsewhere on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Investors are likely drawn to the mixed-use structure itself — residential, office, and retail income streams within one asset, on a road with consistently strong transaction volume — though anyone buying purely for yield should weigh the higher likely service charges of a tower with this amenity load against achievable rents.

Families are better served by the podium-level sports and kids’ facilities than by a typical single-tower residential block, given the dedicated mini soccer field, indoor and outdoor play areas, and dual pools.

Office tenants benefit from a separately controlled lobby and access system, keeping commercial traffic distinct from residential circulation — a detail companies evaluating Sheikh Zayed Road office space specifically should ask about during viewings.

How to Buy or Rent an Apartment in City Tower 1

1. Confirm current availability and pricing directly with H&H Development or a RERA-registered brokerage — off-plan inventory and pricing change as construction progresses.
2. Verify the tenure type (freehold vs. leasehold) for the specific unit through the Dubai Land Department or Dubai REST app, given the area’s 2025 freehold-conversion update.
3. Request the current floor plan and unit specification sheet, since layouts can be revised before handover.
4. Check the payment plan structure — typical Dubai off-plan plans split payments across construction milestones, with funds held in escrow.
5. Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) once terms are agreed, then proceed to DLD/Oqood registration for off-plan purchases.
6. Budget for the 4% DLD transfer fee, any agency commission (typically around 2%), and the developer’s NOC fee.
7. For rentals, confirm the unit is ready for occupancy (City Tower 1 is still under construction) and check the standard Ejari registration process through a licensed agent.

Construction Timeline and Project Status

As of the most recent developer update, City Tower 1 is under active construction with completion targeted for 2026. The project’s initial planning phase is dated to 2018 by the developer, with the demolition of the original City Tower and the start of active building work following in subsequent years. Anyone tracking the project closely should treat 2026 as the current target rather than a guaranteed date — off-plan completion timelines in Dubai commonly shift by months as projects near handover, and the most reliable real-time source is the developer directly or the DLD’s project-status tools rather than older articles still circulating online.

Key Takeaways

• City Tower 1 is a 93-storey, 362.8 m mixed-use tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, replacing the original 16-storey City Tower on the same plot.
• Developed by H&H Development with The Galleria Investment; designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners.
• Published unit counts vary (608 residential apartments vs. 695 total units) — both figures likely describe overlapping but slightly different scopes (residential-only vs. total building units).
• Completion is targeted for 2026; treat this as the current estimate, not a fixed guarantee.
• Trade Centre First sits within the Sheikh Zayed Road corridor that became eligible for freehold conversion in January 2025 — verify specific unit tenure before purchasing.
• The tower has two distinct amenity zones: a family/sports deck on the parking building, and an upper resident lounge/infinity pool deck.
• Nearest metro access is Emirates Towers Metro Station, with DIFC, Downtown Dubai, and DXB all within a short drive.

FAQs

What is City Tower 1?

City Tower 1 is a 93-storey mixed-use skyscraper under construction on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai’s Trade Centre First district. Developed by H&H Development and designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, it combines residential apartments, office floors, and ground-floor retail, with completion targeted for 2026.

Where exactly is City Tower 1 located?

City Tower 1 is located at 50 Sheikh Zayed Road, in the Trade Centre First district, close to the Emirates Towers Metro Station and within a few minutes’ drive of DIFC, the Dubai World Trade Centre, and Downtown Dubai.

Who is the developer of City Tower 1?

City Tower 1 is being developed by H&H Development, founded in 2007 by Shahab Lutfi and Mohamed Al Hussaini, in partnership with The Galleria Investment, which appears as a co-developer in several industry construction databases.

Who designed City Tower 1?

The tower was designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, with lead architects Mark R. Shoemaker and Darin C. Cook. ERGA Progress Engineering Consultants is named as the engineering consultant in construction-tracking records.

How tall is City Tower 1 and how many floors does it have?

H&H Development’s official figures put the tower at 362.8 metres across 93 upper floors plus a ground floor and basement. Architectural renderings from Pelli Clarke & Partners cite a slightly different 358 metres (1,175 ft) — a normal variance between design-stage and developer-published figures.

How many apartments are in City Tower 1?

Sources differ: several portals and the project’s architects cite 608 residential apartments, while H&H Development’s current page cites 695 total units across the building. The difference likely reflects residential-only versus total-unit counts, which include office and retail spaces.

When will City Tower 1 be completed?

Completion is currently targeted for 2026, according to H&H Development’s project page and recent property-portal listings. Off-plan completion dates can shift, so confirm the current status directly with the developer before relying on it for planning purposes.

What was on the City Tower 1 site before construction began?

The site previously held the original City Tower One, a 16-storey building that was demolished to make way for the current 93-storey development on the same plot.

Is City Tower 1 a freehold property?

Trade Centre First sits within the section of Sheikh Zayed Road that the Dubai Land Department made eligible for freehold conversion in January 2025. This doesn’t automatically guarantee freehold status for every unit — buyers, particularly non-GCC nationals, should verify the specific tenure through the DLD or Dubai REST app before purchasing.

What amenities does City Tower 1 offer?

City Tower 1 has two amenity zones: a podium deck on its separate parking building with a gym, kids’ play areas, adult and children’s pools, a mini soccer field, and padel courts, plus an upper resident deck with an infinity pool, tennis court, fitness facility, yoga studio, and residential lounge.

How much do apartments cost in City Tower 1?

Published pricing varies by source and likely by unit type and floor, ranging from listings citing an average launch price in the low millions of AED to others citing a higher average for premium units. Request a current quote from H&H Development or a licensed broker for accurate, unit-specific pricing.

Is City Tower 1 close to the metro?

Yes. The Emirates Towers Metro Station is within walking distance of the tower, with the Durrah Tower bus stop roughly a 5-minute walk away as an additional public transport option.

Is City Tower 1 a good option for renting out as an investment?

The mixed-use structure gives investors exposure to residential, office, and retail income within one asset on a high-liquidity stretch of Sheikh Zayed Road, though the extensive shared amenities likely mean higher-than-average service charges, which should be weighed against achievable rental yield.

How far is City Tower 1 from Dubai International Airport?

City Tower 1 is roughly a 15-minute drive from Dubai International Airport (DXB) and approximately 45 minutes from Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC).

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Emila

Emila is a professional content writer and UAE resident for the past 6 years. Passionate about travel and local exploration, she specializes in creating in-depth guides on UAE destinations, the Dubai Metro, public buses, and practical tips for residents and tourists alike. Through her writing on thedubaiweb.com, Emila helps readers navigate the UAE with ease and confidence.

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