Circa 2007, Dubai was literally and figuratively the hot spot on the map. The city's massive office towers, hotels and master-planned communities were poised to propel its development community into the future. But even this super-charged market had to

answer to the cruel mistress of time and the vicissitudes of the global economy. "Dubai thought trees grew to the moon,'' explains Mike Straneva, partner & Americas director at Ernst & Young. "It just doesn't happen."

Sitting on the Arabian Peninsula of the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirate of Dubai surged into public consciousness with its ambitious developments during the boom years. Web searches exploded seeking renderings of the Burj Dubai (now Burj Khalifa), the world's tallest building, and the Palm Jumeirah, a master-planned community of man-made islands in the shape of palm trees that is visible from space.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.