Il Primo, Downtown Dubai
Il Primo is a 79-storey supertall residential tower in the Opera District of Downtown Dubai, developed by Emaar Properties and completed in January 2023. Royale Stays manages Downtown Dubai short-term rentals from a fee starting from 15%.
Developer
Emaar Properties (Emaar Development)
Storeys
79 above ground (+ 6 underground levels)
Completed
January 2023 (construction started Nov 2017)
Unit types
4, 5 & 6BR apartments and duplexes (119 units, incl. 3 duplex penthouses)
About Il Primo
Il Primo is a supertall residential tower in the Opera District of Downtown Dubai, developed by Emaar Properties through its Emaar Development arm. Construction started in November 2017 and the tower was completed in January 2023, per both Wikipedia's Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)-sourced entry and TAV Construction's own project page, the tower's main contractor, which independently gives the same January 2023 completion date.
Standing 356 metres (1,168 feet) tall, per the same CTBUH-sourced Wikipedia entry, Il Primo rises 79 storeys above six underground parking levels: TAV Construction's own floor plan breakdown (six basement levels, ground floor, three podium levels, 74 typical floors and a crown) adds up to the same 79-storey total independently. The tower was designed by architect Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), with WSP Middle East as structural engineer, per Wikipedia and TAV's own project page.
TAV Construction's own project page describes Il Primo as a super-prime luxury residential development of 119 units, including three palatial duplex penthouses. A separate source, Dubai property portal opr.ae, puts the count at 116 ultra-luxury residences at one to two units per floor for privacy, a close but not identical figure to TAV's own count, possibly because opr.ae's 116 counts standard residences separately from the 3 duplex penthouses TAV lists (116 plus 3 equals TAV's 119 total, though neither source states this reconciliation directly).
Location & Nearby Landmarks
Il Primo sits directly on Burj Khalifa Lake within the Opera District, Downtown Dubai (registered as Plots A, per TAV Construction), a five-minute walk from Burj Khalifa and a seven-minute walk from The Dubai Mall, with Souk Al Bahar around five minutes away on foot, per Dubai property portal opr.ae. Royale Stays' Downtown Dubai area guide covers how the wider Opera District and Downtown submarket performs for short-term rentals.
Il Primo joins Royale Stays' wider Downtown Dubai Building Guide cluster alongside other Opera District towers, including Opera Grand and The Address Residences Dubai Opera, both within the same waterfront pocket of the district (see the FAQ below for how "Il Primo" compares to unrelated businesses of the same name elsewhere).
Unit Types
Il Primo offers exclusively 4, 5 and 6 bedroom apartments and duplexes, at one to two residences per floor for privacy, confirmed by both Emaar's own project page and opr.ae's building overview. Individual unit sizes range from roughly 5,200 to 11,550 square feet across the building, per opr.ae, with the larger figures reflecting the duplex layouts; TAV Construction's own project page separately notes three palatial duplex penthouses among the building's 119 total units.
Interiors are described as featuring marble flooring, sleek wood elements and superior finishes throughout, with floor-to-ceiling windows framing views of Burj Khalifa Lake, Dubai Opera, Burj Khalifa itself or the wider Downtown skyline, per Emaar's own project page.
Amenities
Il Primo's podium level houses an infinity pool positioned at the foot of Burj Khalifa, a state-of-the-art gym, a cigar lounge, a library, a private movie theatre and a golf simulator, alongside a dedicated games room, confirmed by both Emaar's official project page and opr.ae's own amenities list.
Six floors of underground parking serve residents, per TAV Construction's own project specifications, which also list ground-floor retail and food and beverage units, a multi-purpose hall and a nursery as part of the building's podium scope.
Transportation & Access
Il Primo sits on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard in the Opera District, a five-minute walk from Burj Khalifa and a seven-minute walk from The Dubai Mall, with Souk Al Bahar around five minutes away on foot, per opr.ae. The same source puts Dubai International Airport (DXB) at roughly 15 to 20 minutes away by car, placing the tower within easy reach of both the city's business core and its main international gateway.
Rental & Price Trends
Royale Stays has not independently verified building-specific resale or rental pricing for Il Primo. Both Emaar's own project page and opr.ae list pricing as available on request rather than a published starting price, and no verified Il Primo-specific transaction data was found during this research. Owners can model their own numbers for a unit at Il Primo, or any other Downtown Dubai building, through Royale Stays' ROI calculator.
Airbnb / Short-Term Rental Income Potential
Short-term letting anywhere in Dubai, including at Il Primo, runs through a DTCM holiday home permit, the same licensing requirement that applies regardless of building or area. Il Primo's developer, Emaar Properties, is not a hospitality brand with a confirmed short-term-letting prohibition, unlike Emaar's own Vida Hotels and Resorts brand elsewhere, so this building carries no confirmed policy barrier to short-term letting. Royale Stays has not identified a confirmed public short-term rental listing specifically at Il Primo at the time of writing, unsurprising given the building's small total unit count (119, per TAV Construction) and its super-prime 4 to 6 bedroom-only unit mix, so this guide does not claim an established STR track record for the development itself.
In Royale Stays' experience managing short-term rentals across Downtown Dubai more broadly, the largest, most amenity-rich units in trophy Opera District addresses tend to draw a narrower but higher-paying pool of corporate, executive and extended-stay guests rather than the high-turnover leisure demand seen in smaller Downtown apartments, provided pricing, furnishing and presentation are handled to the standard the address demands.
Royale Stays manages the full furnishing, photography, pricing, check-in and guest communications for owners at buildings like Il Primo, from a management fee starting from 15%.
No confirmed direct STR listing was found for this specific building during research; the wider Downtown Dubai area's own established STR activity is used above as context.
Questions