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One of the last bastions of old Dubai disappears

From their front porch, Garry and Amanda James can see the impressive skyscrapers and shopping malls of Dubai.

The skyline of the city seemed very distant when they were young. In front of the house where Amanda spent her childhood, in the same place where she lives now, but three decades ago, there were miles of desert.

Amid the transformation of Dubai from a little pearl to a burgeoning financial center, the Jebel Ali community, a housing complex built in the late 1970s for European dockworkers, remained unchanged.

Today it is a relic of other times. Foreign residents continue to enjoy quiet streets where the wind blows and people play bingo.

That tranquility, however, has its days numbered. The bulldozers are coming.

Nakheel, the state-owned company that built Dubai’s famous palm islands, unveiled plans to demolish the neighborhood and build a two-story luxury home community in its place. Residents received notifications that they must move out within 12 months.

“We are destroyed,” said Amanda James, 53, whose British father installed the family in that community in 1984. “I arrived during the Iran-Iraq war. I stayed during the two Gulf (Persian) wars. Three generations (of the family) passed through here. There is a history of people who grew up here, we made friends, we have families ”.

In response to requests for comment, Nakheel said he informed residents and complied with all legal requirements.

“We are aware of the importance of Jebel Ali in the history of Dubai and its residents, and for this reason we have decided to renew the community to preserve and strengthen its longevity for many future generations,” said the company, adding that the construction of swimming pools , parks, sports centers and bike paths will bring residents together in other ways.

When the oil boom of the 1970s hit, American and European employees of international conglomerates, attracted by generous conditions for foreign employees, settled in the dusty cities of the Persian Gulf. Expats settled their families in safe communities throughout the region, turning complexes like the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. into neat neighborhoods, replicas of California’s suburbs.

Dubai didn’t have much oil, but it used what it did have to build Jebel Ali, the region’s first dry dock and freight transportation hub. Dutch and British employees settled in cinder block houses. As the neighborhood grew, a school emerged. Also horse stables, a swimming pool and clubs where residents gathered to tell stories while eating and drinking.

“There is a unique sense of community,” said Donna Dickinson, a 40-year-old Englishwoman who spent her adolescence in the community and returned to her family last year so that her children “could have the childhood that I had.”

Residents evoke the rapid changes in the city, which culminated in 2002, when the ruler of Dubai authorized foreigners to acquire property in parts of the emirate. That generated a boom in the real estate market, fueled by speculators.

Housing complexes, golf courses, luxury hotels, spectacular water parks and gigantic shopping centers sprang up around James’s house. At one point, the houses of the rulers of the emirates were torn down.

“Much of history was demolished and replaced,” said Todd Reisz, author of “Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai.” “Changes are inevitable in a city that is constantly trying to keep up with demand. But there are still places of culture, where one can understand our history ”.

Nakheel announced plans to renovate Jebel Ali and evicted many residents to demolish their homes. But the 2008 housing market crash came and the company, which had billions of dollars in debt, shelved the project.

Many houses were left empty. Years later, when the economy recovered, Nakheel allowed the people to return.

“When you’re an expat, having a place with a certain history is difficult,” said Dickinson.

There were more foreigners with visas and no possibility of becoming citizens than natives and the community “always felt like my home, I carried it in my heart,” said Dickinson.

For some time, however, there have been signs that things are about to change

In 2017, Nakheel transformed a rustic bar into a sophisticated pub, with suede seating, and opened a movie theater with dining tables that contrasted with the old run-down houses. Many of them remained abandoned and the adolescents organized parties, to the discomfort of the residents.

Rumors abounded that Nakheel planned to demolish the old buildings. They stopped being rumors in recent weeks, when flyers circulated saying that “the past has a new future”, illustrated with modern constructions.

Remaining residents of Jebel Ali will not be given the opportunity to purchase future homes, which most would not be able to afford. They will have to look elsewhere and some say they will probably leave Dubai.

Monique Buitendag, a 37-year-old South African who spent a fortune on renovations a few months ago, is heartbroken.

“They knew this was coming, but anyway they sold us a dream,” he said. “This is going to be like the other housing complexes. We lose a bit of old Dubai ”.

Cory Rhodes, a 43-year-old American whose cabin she has her studio in and teaches her daughter, is devastated. “The feeling that this place generates is not repeated anywhere else,” he said.

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