Billionaire’s son revives Dubai’s long-vacant ‘Big Ben’ tower

Dubai’s iconic “Big Ben” tower, empty for nearly a decade, is getting a new lease on life thanks to the son of a billionaire.

Abbas Sajwani, 26, heir to developer Hussain Sajwani’s fortune (worth over $13 billion), purchased the skyscraper for $120 million and has begun an extensive renovation. The project, which will be renamed AHS Tower, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, Bloomberg reports.

The redevelopment is already proving successful: nearly 95% of the tower’s units have been sold, generating approximately $600 million.

The tower had remained vacant after its previous owner fell behind on debt payments to the Commercial Bank of Dubai. Now, under Sajwani and his company AHS Properties, the long-stalled project is finally moving forward.

Dubai’s commercial property market is booming, with Grade A office occupancy at 95.5%, driven by international financial firms attracted to tax advantages and the city’s favorable time zone.

The Sajwani family is well-known in business circles: Hussain Sajwani, Abbas’s father, is the founder of one of the largest privately held developers, Damac Group, and a longtime business partner of Donald Trump.

Once refurbishment is complete, the tower will lose its clock-face design, which earned it the “Big Ben” nickname, and emerge as a new symbol of Dubai’s luxury real estate: the AHS Tower.