Zanzebeel 3, Downtown Dubai
Zanzebeel 3 is a four-storey residential building in the Zanzebeel complex of Old Town, the Arabian-style district Emaar Properties built around Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. It holds a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments, a short drive from Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and Dubai Opera. Royale Stays manages the setup, pricing and guest side of running a short-term rental in the building for a fee from 15%.
Storeys
4 (+1 basement level)
Developer
Emaar Properties
Completed
Old Town masterplan, mid-2000s
Unit Mix
1 & 2-bedroom apartments
Area
Zanzebeel Quarter, Old Town, Downtown Dubai
About Zanzebeel 3
Zanzebeel 3 is one of four numbered buildings that make up the Zanzebeel complex, part of Old Town, the Arabian-style sub-community Emaar Properties built around Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. It is a four-storey building with one basement parking level, finished in the sandstone-clad, arched style the district is known for, and sits within Old Town's Zanzebeel Quarter.
The building's confirmed unit mix is one and two-bedroom apartments, with one-bedroom layouts running from around 819 to 1,106 sq ft and two-bedroom layouts from around 1,308 to 1,421 sq ft, per Bayut's building guide and floor-plan documents published by Homeland Realty. Recent Dubai Land Department-tracked sale transactions recorded by propsearch.ae show two-bedroom units trading between roughly AED 2.85 million and AED 3.25 million (AED 2,135 to AED 2,287 per sq ft), with a one-bedroom unit recorded at AED 1.85 million (AED 1,913 per sq ft).
Zanzebeel 3 is part of a genuine numbered series: Bayut's own building guide lists Zanzebeel 1, Zanzebeel 2 and Zanzebeel 4 as the other buildings in the same Zanzebeel complex, separate structures rather than phases of one tower. Storey count is reported differently across sources: propsearch.ae states four storeys plus one basement level, corroborated by Homeland Realty's floor-plan documents (which label levels Ground, First, Second and Third Floor only); Bayut states five floors. This guide uses the four-storey figure, the one backed by direct floor-plan-document evidence, and covers Zanzebeel 3 only.
Location & Nearby Landmarks
Zanzebeel 3 sits in the Zanzebeel Quarter of Old Town, close to Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and Dubai Opera. Fountains at Dubai Mall and Bay Avenue Mall & Park are both about 0.7 km away, and it is roughly a 6-minute drive to Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, a 4-minute drive to Dubai Opera, and about 19 minutes to Dubai International Airport. The nearest bus stop, The Palace Downtown, is served by feeder bus F13 to the metro, and Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station on the Red Line is about an 8-minute drive. Nearby fine dining includes La Serre, La Postreria, Bice Mare and Ananta, with Waitrose, Spinneys, Carrefour Market and ZOOM covering everyday groceries.
Other buildings in the same wider Old Town masterplan are covered separately on royalestays.com: Reehan 7, Miska 2, Bahwan Tower and Zanzebeel 4, each with its own layout and unit mix. For a wider view of the area's short-term rental market, Royale Stays' Airbnb management guide for Downtown Dubai covers licensing and demand across the community.
Unit Types
Zanzebeel 3's confirmed unit mix is one and two-bedroom apartments. One-bedroom layouts range from around 819 to 1,106 sq ft across ground, first, second and third floor plans, and two-bedroom layouts range from around 1,308 to 1,421 sq ft, per Bayut's building guide and Homeland Realty's published floor-plan set. Bayut's own overview of the wider four-building Zanzebeel complex also mentions three-bedroom units, but no three-bedroom floor plan or transaction for Zanzebeel 3 specifically was found during this research, so that unit type is not confirmed for this building.
Amenities
Residents have access to indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a gym, a clubhouse, a game room, a sky lounge, squash courts, a table tennis court, a kids' play area and covered parking, plus laundry services and an on-site medical centre. The building runs 24-hour security with CCTV, a staffed front desk, a fire alarm system, and is pet-friendly, per Bayut's building guide.
Transportation & Access
The nearest bus stop, The Palace Downtown on Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard, connects to the metro via feeder bus F13. Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station, served by the Red Line, is roughly an 8-minute drive, and Sheikh Zayed Road is quickly accessible for drivers. Dubai International Airport (DXB) is about 19 minutes away and the newer Al Maktoum International Airport around 47 minutes, typical of most Old Town addresses tucked just behind the Downtown Dubai skyline.
Rental & Price Trends
Downtown Dubai rents rose roughly 4 to 7% through 2025, according to Bayut's Dubai Rental Market Report, with H1 2026 figures putting a one-bedroom apartment in the area at around AED 133,000 a year and a two-bedroom at around AED 223,000, both unit types Zanzebeel 3 offers.
On the sale side, Dubai Land Department transactions tracked by propsearch.ae show recent two-bedroom sales in Zanzebeel 3 between roughly AED 2.85 million and AED 3.25 million, and a one-bedroom sale at AED 1.85 million. Owners weighing a specific unit's numbers can run their own scenario through Royale Stays' ROI calculator.
STR Income Potential
Unlike some of its Old Town neighbours, Zanzebeel 3 has a directly confirmed short-term rental presence: a listing titled "Delightful 1BR at Zanzebeel 3" was found live on deluxehomes.com, a named Dubai short-term rental operator, alongside separate Airbnb listings referencing "Zanzabeel" (an alternate transliteration) near Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. This is a genuine, if indirect, demand signal for the building rather than an assumption.
Because Zanzebeel 3 is developed by Emaar rather than Vida, the site's only confirmed prohibited brand for short-term letting, there is no policy reason apartments here cannot be run as licensed holiday homes. Royale Stays' own managed Downtown Dubai portfolio shows gross annual income in the region of AED 130,000 to AED 175,000 for a one-bedroom and AED 190,000 to AED 280,000 for a two-bedroom, per the Downtown Dubai Airbnb rental income data; no Zanzebeel 3-specific figure is published, so this reflects the wider area rather than a confirmed number for this exact building.
Royale Stays runs the full operation for a fee starting from 15%, covering furnishing, photography, pricing, check-in and guest communications, with a single monthly statement covering revenue, fee, costs and net transfer. Owners ready to move forward can submit their property for a free earnings estimate.
No Royale Stays-managed unit currently exists at Zanzebeel 3. The deluxehomes.com and Airbnb listings referenced above are independently operated third-party listings identified during research, not Royale Stays clients, and this guide does not claim a specific short-term rental income figure for this building. Income context reviewed by Chris Veinbaums, DTCM-licensed operator.
Questions