RAK Central to Open in September 2027 with First Grade A LEED Offices

20 September 2026

RAK Central, the business district Marjan is building in Ras Al Khaimah, is due to open in September 2027, and the topping out ceremony for its office blocks is expected in November 2026. Alison Grinnell, Group Chief Operating Officer of Marjan and Chief Executive Officer of Marjan Hospitality, confirmed both dates in an interview published by Gulf News on 20 September 2026, and said the district will contain the first Grade A, LEED certified office buildings in the emirate. The same interview set out the scale of Marjan Beach, the neighbouring waterfront masterplan: three kilometres of beach frontage, 6.5 million square feet of open green space, around 22,000 residential units and 12,000 hotel keys.

Two dates, two different things

The two milestones named are not the same event. November 2026 is the topping out of the office blocks, the moment the structural frame reaches its final height. Facade installation, fit out, testing and commissioning all come after it. September 2027 is when the district itself is due to open for use. Between those two dates sits roughly ten months of finishing work, which is the normal gap for a build of this size.

Marjan has been delivering RAK Central in stages. In September 2025 the developer announced completion of the district infrastructure package: roads, cycle tracks, stormwater and sewerage systems, firefighting, irrigation, potable water, electrical networks, street lighting, landscaping and planted trees. ALEC was appointed main contractor for the RAK Central HQ Office Complex in the same period, with that complex reported then as due for completion in the first quarter of 2027.

RAK Central by the numbers

The headquarters complex is the anchor of the district. Marjan announced it together with the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) in November 2024 as five sustainable office buildings, described then as LEED Gold certified towers intended to house the headquarters of RAKEZ, Marjan, RAK Hospitality Holding, Al Hamra and the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority. Beyond the offices, the published masterplan covers residential neighbourhoods, retail, food and beverage, hotels, civic and cultural space and a university campus.

Why Grade A and LEED matter in the Northern Emirates

Grade A is a market classification rather than a licence category. It describes floor plates, ceiling heights, lift ratios, building management systems, parking, finishes and, in practice, whether a landlord can sign a corporate tenant with a procurement checklist. Until now that stock has been concentrated in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and a company that wanted a Northern Emirates address usually accepted a lower specification or took space in a free zone business centre.

LEED is the other half of the claim. It is a building certification run by the US Green Building Council, awarded at Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels for energy, water, materials and indoor environment performance. It matters commercially because a growing number of international groups now carry environmental reporting obligations from their head office, and a certified building is the simplest way for a local subsidiary to answer them without a separate audit.

Put together, the two labels are aimed at a specific tenant: a company that could sit in Dubai, has a procurement policy, and is being offered a Ras Al Khaimah alternative that no longer requires a compromise on the building itself. Whether that tenant moves will depend on rent, on how the district fills up and on the transport links, none of which have been published yet.

Marjan Beach is the other half of the build out

Marjan Beach is planned as eight neighbourhoods spanning residential, hospitality, commercial, civic and logistics districts. Published capacity is around 22,000 homes and 12,000 hotel keys, room for roughly 74,000 residents and a projected workforce of 32,000, with up to 180,000 visitors a year once the district is complete. Hard Rock Hotel and Residences has already been named as a signature project in the Vive district, and Marjan said it is in discussion with effectively all of the large hotel operating companies, with further announcements expected within two to three months.

Branded residences are a declared part of the strategy for Marjan Beach. Marjan argues the model supports developer returns, strengthens the hotel ecosystem and gives buyers access to hotel facilities while bringing spending residents into the emirate. For buyers looking at the numbers, our guide to mortgages in the UAE for residents and non residents sets out how off plan and completed purchases are financed here, and our earlier report on Ras Al Khaimah apartment prices in the first half of 2026 covers the supply pipeline the emirate is working through.

The wider Ras Al Khaimah pipeline

The business district is not moving in isolation. Marjan expects the emirate to return to pre conflict tourism numbers in 2027, timed with the opening of Wynn Al Marjan Island, the USD 5.7 billion integrated resort that will introduce gaming to the UAE. Russia and the wider CIS were the first international market to come back, helped by a short booking window of two to four weeks. The developer says it has not slowed capital investment or refurbishment during the quiet period, with work continuing at Pullman on Marjan Island and Rixos Bab Al Bahr, and supply chain pressure eased once materials were routed through ports including Fujairah.

In the mountains, Marjan is assembling an 80 kilometre Grand Loop of hiking trails around Jebel Jais, plus a planned five day Via Ferrata running up to 20 kilometres across four sections of varying difficulty, with new climbing routes, trail rehabilitation and environmental monitoring. Parts of Jebel Jais are temporarily closed for that work and are expected to reopen in early November. Commercial demand is following the same curve: retail prices on Al Marjan Island rose sharply in the first half of 2026, which we covered in our review of UAE commercial property in H1 2026.

What a company planning a RAK presence should note

• Nothing is leasable today. No rents, service charges, floor plate sizes or leasing dates for RAK Central have been published, and an opening date of September 2027 is a target, not a contract.
• The HQ complex is spoken for. Five buildings are earmarked for RAKEZ, Marjan, RAK Hospitality Holding, Al Hamra and the tourism authority, so third party space will come from the rest of the masterplan.
• All 32 plots are sold as sellable land, which means much of the district will be delivered by third party developers on their own schedules, not by Marjan alone.
• A licence and an office are separate decisions. A RAKEZ or mainland licence can be taken now and the premises question revisited when the district is closer to handover.
• Staff housing and hotel supply arrive with the same build out, which is the part most often underestimated when a company relocates people to a Northern Emirate.

How Atlant Capital can help

We work with companies that are choosing where in the UAE to sit before they choose a building. If Ras Al Khaimah is on your shortlist, the licence decision comes first: our company setup service covers free zone and mainland routes across the emirates, and our guide to company formation in the UAE explains the documents, timelines and costs involved. Once the entity exists, opening a corporate bank account is the step that most often sets the real start date, and we handle it alongside residency visas for the founders and staff who will actually be based there.

Our advice on RAK Central specifically is unglamorous: treat September 2027 as a planning assumption, not a commitment, and structure the licence and the lease as two separate decisions with two separate timelines.

Source: Gulf News.

FAQ

When does RAK Central open?

September 2027, according to Alison Grinnell, Group Chief Operating Officer of Marjan, speaking to Gulf News on 20 September 2026. The topping out ceremony for the office blocks is expected in November 2026, which marks the structural frame reaching full height rather than the district being ready for occupation. No leasing dates or rent levels have been published.

What is RAK Central?

It is the business district Marjan is developing in Ras Al Khaimah, on a masterplan of 288,000 square metres, about 3.1 million square feet, with 8.37 million square feet of gross floor area and 32 sellable plots. Alongside offices it covers residential neighbourhoods, hotels, retail, food and beverage, civic and cultural space and a university campus. Its anchor is the HQ Office Complex, five buildings announced with RAKEZ in November 2024.

Are these really the first Grade A offices in Ras Al Khaimah?

That is the claim made by Marjan. Grade A describes the top tier of commercial office specification, covering floor plates, building systems, lift ratios and finishes, and in the UAE that stock has been concentrated in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The RAK Central buildings are also described as LEED certified, with the HQ complex announced at LEED Gold level, which is what makes the combination new for the emirate.

Can a company lease space in RAK Central now?

No. Marjan has not published rents, service charges, floor plate sizes or a leasing schedule, and the district is not due to open until September 2027. Companies that want a Ras Al Khaimah presence before then normally take a RAKEZ or mainland licence with existing premises and revisit the office question closer to handover, since a licence and a lease can be arranged on separate timelines.