Ontario Tower, Business Bay
Business Bay metro station is a ten-minute walk from Ontario Tower, and that single fact decides how a week without a car goes. You can be in Downtown before the coffee has gone cold, with a Red Line train every few minutes and no parking to worry about at the other end.
Ontario Tower is a 29-storey mixed-use building in Business Bay, built by Rose Homes Investment. It holds apartments and fitted offices, which is an unusual mix. Below is a week there, and what it means if you own one of the flats.
- Developer: Rose Homes Investment
- Storeys: 29, plus two basement levels
- Completed: August 2010
- Units: 175, from studios to two-bedroom apartments
- Business Bay station: 10 minutes on foot
- Dubai International: 18.6 km by road, about 20 minutes in free-flowing traffic
Storeys
29
Developer
Rose Homes Investment
Completed
August 2010
Units
175 (25 studios, 100 one-bedroom, 50 two-bedroom)
Location
Al A'amal Street, Business Bay
On this page
- The tower
- The flats
- Getting here from Dubai International
- On the train, and off it
- The first errand
- The district around it
- Dinner and coffee
- A free afternoon
- Who lives here
- Families and schools
- What the district is like
- What is on in the city
- A week at Ontario Tower
- What the register shows
- What owners get from us
- Sources
- Frequently Asked Questions
The tower
Studios and small apartments sit alongside fitted office space. The tower is freehold, with a swimming pool, a gym and the usual shops at street level.
Separate passenger lifts and podium parking keep the building running smoothly. A health club and a waiting area come with covered parking, high-speed lifts and daily maintenance.
A late arrival wants a staffed desk. Here there is one. CCTV watches the building all day and night, trained security staff are on duty, and the desk serves residents and visitors around the clock.
The flats
One-bedrooms run 790 to 800 sq ft, and two-bedrooms average 1,000 sq ft. Studios are smaller, and some of the larger flats have a maid's room.
A studio suits one or two people who will be out most of the day. A two-bedroom suits a family or two friends sharing a trip.
Getting here from Dubai International
The airport is close. The road from Dubai International is 18.6 kilometres, around 20 minutes when the road is clear. Traffic adds to that, so a flight landing at rush hour should plan for longer.
The tower connects directly to Sheikh Zayed Road (E11), and traffic bottlenecks form entering the district from that road.
On the train, and off it
This is the part of the district where a metro habit is possible. The tower sits on the western side of Business Bay with walking access to the station, so you do not have to rely on a car every day.
Business Bay Metro Station is on the Red Line, with the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall station nearby and Emirates Towers further up the line. The station is R26, one stop from Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall.
Buses stop at Lillian Tower, a couple of minutes from the door, and a water-taxi stop is five minutes away. That gives you three ways out of the building without a car.
The first errand
Small supermarkets such as zoom and Wmart are within about four minutes on foot. Medicina pharmacy is three.
For a bigger shop there is Bay Avenue Mall, the district's own, ten minutes away on foot.
Emirates Hospital Clinic is on Bay Avenue, with Medicare Hospital in Safa further out by car.
The district around it
It is a grid of towers. Business Bay sits between Sheikh Zayed Road to the north and Al Khail Road to the south, with an exit onto Downtown Boulevard. About 22.1% of the land is for residential projects, 18.5% for commercial use and 59.4% for mixed use.
That mix is why a tower like this one can hold flats and offices together. The streets are busy by day with office workers heading for lunch and delivery vans circling the blocks.
Executive Towers is a group of twelve towers, with studios up to four-bedroom apartments. Capital Bay Towers has a gym, a pool, an aerobics room and a children's play area. Around Ontario Tower you find the old Executive Towers group and the newer buildings along the canal.
Dinner and coffee
Thirty places to eat sit within 500 metres and 64 within a kilometre, which is a lot of choice for one evening.
Beans and Bites Coffee Shop is the nearest, with Hadero and Costa along the same stretch. The Blacksmith Bar and Eatery serves American barbecue, MAMA'Esh serves Palestinian street food and Kitchen6 at JW Marriott Marquis has a buffet.
Waka at The Oberoi, Mama'esh at Bayswater Tower and Tong Thai at the JW Marriott Marquis are further names. Cafe Delices and Caffe Divino serve coffee, and Vyne Restaurant and Bar does brunch. A hotel dinner is easy to have without paying for a hotel room.
A free afternoon
Valla Fitness is a minute from the door, and Bayside Park 1 is just as close. Fitness First in Vision Tower and Elevation Fitness and BARE in Clover Bay Tower add more choice.
The Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa are both under two kilometres away, and the Dubai Opera and a cinema are closer. The Dubai Canal is the landmark the district is known for, with the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Opera a short way off.
The canal promenade has walking paths, cycling tracks and waterside dining. A canal walk costs nothing and needs no plan, so the easiest evening in the week is simply to step outside and follow the water until you reach somewhere you want to eat.
Downtown Dubai, the Burj Khalifa and DIFC are a short drive from the tower. On a hot afternoon you can skip the walk and take a taxi, which in this part of town is rarely a long wait and never a large fare.
Who lives here
The district draws professionals and entrepreneurs, with many expats in their twenties and thirties. It is a safe, well-maintained community with 24/7 security and good roads.
Many apartments look over the canal, the Burj Khalifa or the skyline, and some have smart-home controls for lighting. The view depends on the floor.
Families and schools
This part of Business Bay has more offices and towers than school campuses, so families look to Al Safa and Jumeirah, and to Al Quoz. The schools are mostly British and IB, with a few American and Indian ones.
JSS School, Al Safa High School and Horizon English School are the closest on the map. None is a short walk, so a school run here is a drive.
For small children, Blossoms Nursery, Canadian Kids Nursery in Churchill Towers and Hummingbird Nursery on Bay Avenue are options. First Path Montessori adds another.
What the district is like
Dubai Properties shaped Business Bay through projects such as Executive Towers and Bay Square. The Oberoi Dubai and The Taj Dubai are among its hotels.
Business Bay is a central mixed-use district along the Dubai Water Canal, next to Downtown Dubai and fronting Sheikh Zayed Road. Peak-hour traffic can build up on the roads that serve it.
Our reading: Ontario Tower is a place for you if you want the train and the canal more than a view of the sea.
What is on in the city
Dubai's year follows a clear order. Shopping fills the winter, and November belongs to fitness.
This autumn the City Half Marathon starts in DIFC on 8 November, and Diwali events run through the first half of the month with shopping offers and dining deals. National Day follows at the start of December with fireworks and family activities.
A week at Ontario Tower
On Monday you land at Dubai International and take a taxi to the tower. On Tuesday you take the metro to Downtown, and on Wednesday you stay in and use the pool.
At the weekend you walk the canal and eat on Bay Avenue.
What the register shows
The register labels all of these as sales. Read the table as a snapshot of a handful of deals, not as a price list.
| Unit type | Sales | Dates | Price (AED) | Size (sq m) | AED per sq m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 1 | 15 Sep 2026 | 620,000 | 37.35 | 16,600 |
| One-bedroom | 1 | 7 Oct 2026 | 895,370 | 74.6 | 12,002 |
| Two-bedroom | 4 | 18 Sep 2026 to 1 Oct 2026 | 1,100,000 to 1,258,372 | 91.23 | 13,066 |
AED per sq m is the median where a row has more than one sale.
What owners get from us
If you own here, we look after the whole stay. Royale Stays handles furnishing and photography. We set the pricing and run check-in. We answer guest messages and handle maintenance. Our management fee is from 15% of booking revenue.
Letting a flat here starts with the Department of Economy and Tourism holiday-home permit in your name, which we file.
Sources
Sources: Property Finder, betterhomes, Bayut, Gulf News, RGEstate, Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Media Office, Visit Dubai.
Questions