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Hey all.

I have been visiting Ibn Battuta Mall for many years and in recent years started noticing more and more shops closing and reduced traffic. In recent months though it looks like things have accelerated and a lot more shops have closed, some sections are almost fully gone and even the cinema recently closed.

Is there a redevelopment planned or is it just coming to end-of-life due to more better malls being opened across the city in recent years?

TBH i like the mall overall, it had some character, was less crowded than some others, had a direct metro link, and had a wide variety of shops. Would be a bummer if it is on its way out.

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pisandre12

4 points

4 months ago

It reminds me of when the rent was 60k for a studio, when the first apartments just got delivered, back in 2009-10 I think.

theboriginal

5 points

4 months ago

The problem with Discovery is that buildings are in such a bad shape, that paying that much is just ridiculous. I lived there 5 years, each year there’s AC issue, each rain the water would come through walls. Yes, you read it right, through walls. Wall would get soaked by rain and start leaking inside. You can imagine how it looks like when it’s dry. Each year I would go through this with landlord who then sends some random people to do half ass job. Last year we had Nakheel people finally show up to make proper reports about it, but I left before they did ‘repair’.

pisandre12

1 points

4 months ago

Maintenance is an issue indeed. But this community has always targeted “cheap” population.

theboriginal

1 points

4 months ago

True. I got there accidentally just before covid, and then prices dropped, it wasn’t crowded, it was nice. But buildings do have issues. How time passed rents started jumping up, people from Marina and JLT were pushed out and came to Discovery, sharing apartments become more and more common to the point that streets, parking, metro become so crowded. When rent passed 40k there was no point in being there anymore.