Omniyat Properties on Palm Jumeirah and in Business Bay

The short answer

Omniyat is a privately held developer, founded in Dubai in 2005 by Mahdi Amjad, who is still its executive chairman. It develops the buildings and hands the running of the homes to a hotel group. Each of its current residential buildings on Palm Jumeirah and in Marasi Bay, Business Bay, is serviced by Dorchester Collection, the group behind The Dorchester in London.

Track record and delivery

By April 2025 Omniyat had delivered 11 buildings, seven of them in the Burj Khalifa District, with eight more under construction. The early ones are the trade-off to know about:

• The Opus, designed by Zaha Hadid, was due by the end of 2009. The financial crisis and design complications pushed completion to 2017.
• The Pad, in Business Bay, launched in 2007 for completion in 2010. In December 2009 Omniyat suspended construction and stopped collecting payments, blaming late Business Bay infrastructure. It was completed in 2020.

The Dorchester Collection buildings came later. One at Palm Jumeirah was completed in 2021, and The Lana in 2023. The Lana is Dorchester Collection’s first hotel in the Middle East, with 39 residences beside it.

Recent dates have moved by months, not years. Omniyat’s August 2026 update says AVA has passed its first round of Civil Defence and pre-completion inspections and is in final commissioning. Orla was listed for 2026 in April 2025; Omniyat now expects its completion certificate by early 2027. Orla Infinity, also listed for 2026, is now due in 2027.

What their homes are like

Omniyat names its designers on its project pages. Foster + Partners designed Orla, Orla Infinity, Vela and Vela Viento, and Zaha Hadid Architects designed The Alba. Gilles & Boissier did the interiors at Vela and Vela Viento, and YODEZEEN at Orla and Orla Infinity.

Unit counts are low and homes are large. AVA has one home per floor, Orla Infinity has 20 duplexes, and Vela has 38 homes on 30 floors. There are no studios or one-bedrooms. The smallest are two-bedrooms from 148 m² at The Alba Resort Residences, sold furnished; the largest is Orla’s Luna Sky Palace, at 5,433 m². Most collections have private pools in some homes; at AVA and Orla Infinity every home has one.

Dorchester Collection’s role is service, not construction: concierge, doorman, valet and car care, with dining and housekeeping on request. Omniyat also has its own design studio, OMNIYAT Atelier. It designed Orla’s second show residence, a four-bedroom duplex that buyers can view privately.

Who Omniyat suits, and who it doesn’t

Omniyat suits a buyer who wants a large home on the Palm or on the water at Marasi Bay, with hotel-style service, and who can wait. Every Omniyat project Diamond covers is still off-plan, with completions due from December 2026 to 2028 on Omniyat’s schedules.

It doesn’t suit:

• An investor after rental yield on a small unit. Omniyat builds none here. The Omniyat Group launched a separate developer, Beyond, in September 2024 for what it calls the wider luxury market, and Beyond is building in Dubai Maritime City.
• A buyer who needs to move in now. AVA is the closest to handover.
• A buyer who wants published prices. Omniyat’s project pages show none, so price lists come through its sales team or an adviser.
• A buyer set on a sold-out building at launch terms. Orla Infinity sold all 20 duplexes by August 2024, so the only way in is to buy an existing owner’s contract.

What Diamond checks before recommending an Omniyat project

• The payment plan’s timing. At Orla, half the price is paid by six months after the sale agreement and half on completion. Diamond checks that a client’s cash flow can carry the first half, and gets the current plan for each building in writing.
• Escrow and registration. Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, off-plan payments go into an escrow account in the project’s name. That account is used only for that building, and the law bars the developer’s creditors from seizing it. Omniyat has corporate debt as well: since 2025 it has sold sukuk (Islamic bonds) listed on Nasdaq Dubai. Diamond confirms the project’s registration and escrow account with the Dubai Land Department (DLD) before a client pays.
• Service charges. She asks for the building’s service-charge budget and how much of it pays for Dorchester Collection’s services.
• Resale terms. For a sold-out building, she checks what the seller has paid, the premium asked and Omniyat’s conditions and fees for transferring the contract.
• Progress against the date. She reads Omniyat’s latest construction update for the building, and the sale agreement’s clauses on late completion.

Message Diamond on WhatsApp for the current availability and payment plan of the Omniyat building you are considering.