The Central Downtown

When will The Central Downtown be handed over?

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) project register gives The Central Downtown a registered completion date of 31 March 2028. AQUA Properties and broker listings market a Q2 2028 handover, so the two dates sit in the same quarter.

The last DLD inspection, on 21 April 2026, recorded 10.48% complete. That is about 23 months before the registered date, with almost 90% of the work still to do. When the project was announced for launch in February 2024, completion was expected by 2026 (Propsearch), so the date has already moved back by up to two years.

Building-by-building dates and how the date has changed: The Central Downtown handover date.

The Central Downtown construction update

The register dates the construction start to 1 November 2023. Four DLD inspections are on record: 0% on 24 November 2023, 0.68% on 15 November 2024, 4.22% on 22 May 2025 and 10.48% on 21 April 2026 (Continental Club, register updated 9 October 2026). That is an average of 0.57 percentage points a month over the last year. No newer inspection had been published by 11 October 2026.

Propsearch names Atcon Constructions as main contractor and Chawla Architectural & Consulting Engineers as architect. The developer’s estimate of the build cost, filed with the Land Department, is AED 198.5 million. Escrow is held with First Abu Dhabi Bank, under DLD project number 2861.

The Central Downtown homes and sizes

The Central Downtown is a 7 acre project of four residential towers of 31, 22, 28 and 27 storeys, set above a shopping mall of about 150,000 sq ft (Propsearch). The DLD register lists 1,254 units. AQUA’s own page says about 1,200 apartments, and Propsearch estimates 1,168.

Unit counts and sizes are from the DLD register via Continental Club, which excludes the smallest and largest 5% of each type.

The Central Downtown prices and resale

Continental Club shows a developer starting price of AED 599,888. Broker pages in October 2026 list studios from about AED 843,888 (JRE) to AED 943,272 (OffPlanIndex), so the advertised entry price depends on which release a listing reflects.

Registered sales give a firmer picture. Over the 12 months from October 2025 to September 2026, Dubai Data counts 145 sales at a median of AED 1.08 million, or AED 1,425 per sq ft. By type, the medians were AED 736,000 for a studio of about 475 sq ft, AED 1.11 million for a 1 bedroom of 762 sq ft, AED 1.59 million for a 2 bedroom of 1,233 sq ft and AED 2.69 million for a 3 bedroom of 2,201 sq ft. Recent registrations include a 439 sq ft studio at AED 705,888 on 30 September 2026 and a 714 sq ft 1 bedroom at AED 1,141,888 on 24 September 2026.

Sales were heaviest at launch. AQUA reported more than 900 units sold within 100 days (Propsearch, June 2024), and DLD recorded 705 sales in 2024 at a median of AED 999,000. The trailing 12 month total was 55.8% lower than the year before.

The Central Downtown payment plan

Gold Pillars publishes two developer plans:

• Studios and 1 bedrooms: 5% on booking, 5% within 2 months, 10% within 5 months, 5% within 8 months, and 75% on handover.
• 2 and 3 bedrooms: 5% on booking, 1% a month for 23 months, 48% on handover, and 24% at 1% a month for 24 months after handover.

Property Finder lists a different split of 20% at launch, 10% during construction, 22% on handover and 48% after handover. OffPlanIndex also shows a winter offer with no booking deposit. The plan in each SPA is the one that applies.

The Central Downtown developer

The register lists the developer as Aqua Properties FZ LLC, which markets the project as AQUA Properties and AQUA Developments. Its project page describes The Central Downtown as a mixed use hub with studios to 3 bedroom apartments and more than 200,000 sq ft of amenities, including a climbing wall, padel, a golf simulator and a day care centre (Propsearch). The sources reviewed do not name a completed AQUA tower of similar size.

What to check before buying at The Central Downtown

1. Which tower the unit is in. The register holds one completion date for all four towers, but the work may not finish at the same time.
2. The completion date and grace period in the SPA, compared with 31 March 2028 in the register and the pace of 0.57 points a month since 2025.
3. How much falls due at handover. On the studio plan, 75% of the price is paid at handover, so mortgage approval timing matters.
4. The next DLD inspection, the first update since April 2026.