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Rent exemptions for creative businesses undergoing renovations at the Al Qouz Creative Zone is a welcome relief for artists and content creators, owners of various outlets told Khaleej Times.
On Saturday, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, announced that tenants rebuilding or renovating properties in Al Quoz Creative Zone would be exempt from paying rent for up to two years. The move is part of efforts to transform the Dubai district into a world-leading centre for the creative sector.
The Dubai government launched Al Quoz Creative Zone in April this year. The district is home to several art galleries, community theatres, small businesses, sports centres, and restaurants.
Indian businessman Inder Deep Singh, owner of The Attic – an e-commerce platform for furniture, said the rental relief would help businesses better establish themselves.
“The opportunity is great. Al Quoz is a premium real estate spot, and you have a lot of talent and trade emerging in the area. Two years of a rental relief gives upcoming businesses to establish themselves better,” he said. Singh said he chose Al Qouz as his warehouse and business location as it is ‘the heart of Dubai’.
"Like Deira, the old business hub of Dubai, Al Qouz is here to stay,” he added.
Mara Firetti, the founder of Firetti Contemporary Art Gallery, said, “I think it’s a very positive thing. I am based in Al Serkal Avenue. If you drive through Al Qouz, you can see that some of the shops need to be upscaled. It’s a lovely location in the very heart of the city.”
She added, “The rental relief will push people to invest and do something for their business and enhance it.” Firetti said businesses do not operate alone in Al Serkal Avenue. “We work as a community. I’ve not seen this anywhere else in the world,” she added.
On Sunday, ThinkSmart, a media and public relations company, became the region’s first to launch a creative content hub. The ThinkSmart Hub in Al Quoz Creative Zone is the first-of-its-kind infrastructure that will support and boost content creation for social media users on various platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, YouTube, and Podcasts.
With the announcement of exemption from rents for up to two years by Sheikh Hamdan, Lina Nihad Husri, the company CEO, said ThinkSmart is an integral part of transforming Dubai into a global capital of the creative economy by 2025.
She said, “We chose to be at the Al Quoz Creative Zone because it is an incubator for everyone in the field of content and art creation. We want to be an integral part of this ecosystem and will offer complete support to all content creators and artists.”
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
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