Bawadi: Dubai’s Grand Hotel Strip That Faced Unforeseen Challenges

Dubai government brought the world Bawadi on May 1, 2006. This is a development project led by Tatweer subsidiary of the parent Dubai Holding company. Arif Mubarak took up the managerial mantle as the CEO of this iconic undertaking that was part of the giant initiative to create Dubailand.

The concept plan for Bawadi was nothing but fantastic. A heart of the scheme was a 10-kilometer long grand boulevard leading to 31 thematic hotels-it was expected to host 29,000 rooms. The hotels would be designed according to different cultural motifs, inspired by ideas from all regions of the world, from Asia to the Americas, and the Middle East, up to Africa. Examples were the Asia-Asia Hotel, which would be one of the biggest hotels in the world, conceived with more than 6,500 rooms.

These theme hotels, the Wild Wild West Hotel being just an example of an American-themed hotel, were designed to meet Dubai’s booming tourist market. Undoubtedly, they would draw in numerous people with their character and world-class facilities. Bawadi would be a hub of amusement parks, commercial centres, and residential developments-wholly a gigantic project; its total bill is rumored to run over $100 billion.

In 2007, the master plan was readjusted according to the widened vision of Bawadi. The project was tentatively scheduled to add 51 hotels with more than 60,000 rooms. This expansion would, therefore, help Dubai have an idea of its position as a global leader in terms of tourism and hospitality. The residential segment also enjoyed growth, and new plans were introduced for 308 townhouses and a community centre, complete with a retail area. Bawadi was more than a theme park or a shopping centre. It represented the vision of Dubai as an all-inclusive lifestyle destination, where visitors and residents could stay, shop, and experience the best that Dubai had to offer.

Bawadi’s bright prospects were cut short when the global financial crisis of 2008 slammed shut the world economy. The Dubai real estate market had crashed, and several of the great plans were put on ice or drastically slowed down. Bawadi is one of many developments hard hit by this downturn. At first, initial development had begun, with site preparations and some early construction, but the depth of this financial crisis turned the project of this magnitude to impossible for Tatweer to support. Many components of the Bawadi master plan were subsequently cancelled, including the Desert Gate Hotels and Towers, which had been contemplated as part of the elaborate hotel strip. The Asia-Asia Hotel, once to be the crown jewel of the Bawadi strip, also was indefinitely put on the backburner. Other projects, such as the Wild West Hotel, never came out of the ground.

Dubai’s priorities shifted. While many sectors in Dubai continued to rocket forward, Bawadi fell to the side. By 2014, the official Bawadi project website, bawadi.info, was taken offline, signalling the quiet demise of one of Dubai’s most ambitious undertakings.

Although it ended in failure, Bawadi remains an intriguing page in the story of Dubai’s urban development. In fact, its original vision was a great one – a brilliant example of Dubai’s drive to do things that no one else ever thought possible. While Bawadi failed to achieve what was envisioned for it, other parts of Dubailand were reincarnated and thrived, drawing visitors from all over the world to its gates: Dubai Miracle Garden and Dubai Parks and Resorts.

While Bawadi may not have blossomed into the entertainment and hotel hub that it was once planned to be, Dubai’s reinvention remains as vibrant as ever. The city is innovating today with hospitality, entertainment, and real estate. Many of the elements that were part of the Bawadi project may still sprout new life as Dubai continues along its course to be the global destination of choice.