The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always shown a major interest in the development of its business environment and recently announced launching the significant initiative of a new business park in Riyadh to attract foreign investors and support the development of new job opportunities in the kingdom. The Boulevard Business Park, which contributes a new office area of 60000 sq. m to the Riyadh’s Boulevard district, is the object of the investment of over SAR 1 billion (around $266 million). This challenging endeavor is led by the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), which declared the project in its social media accounts.
The Boulevard Business Park is an integration of Saudi Arabia’s developmental plan of diversifying its economy as encompassed by Vision 2030 which aims at reducing the economy’s dependence on oil and develop other sectors such as entertainment, technology and foreign investment. Riyadh currently has a financial district, a business area close to the airport and a technology city. But still the FDI is below the target of $100 billion per year set by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To counter this, the government has put special incentives such as special zones, tax incentives, and simple bureaucratic procedures in order to encourage international companies that seek to set up their businesses in Saudi Arabia.
Another characteristic that is typical for the park is the ‘‘live where you work and play’’ concept that is evident in many contemporary mixed-use new urbanism projects. The design forms a nine-office building complex with commercial outlets, co-working areas, and other facilities including an outdoor art display, fitness center, spa, and suspended swimming pool. Besides, there are over 1,300 parking lots in the business park and the plan for increasing accessibility between the developments is provided with green areas and sports tracks.
This launch is the first stage of a master plan for the entire urban landscape regeneration in the Boulevard zone with the purpose of establishing the coherent connection between entertainments, business, and shopping facilities. At the head of the GEA, an organization that redevelops integrated industrial complexes, Turki bin Abdul Mohsen Al-AlShaikh stressed that it would increase home and foreign firms’ interaction.
There is one characteristic that stands out about this development of this particular type, which is that is designed to encourage innovation and creativity. The first phase gives a creative business resort to global and national companies in arts and creativity fields. This places the park as a marketplace for global innovators to present their products and services in entertainments sector which is growing in KSA.
The Boulevard Business Park also aims to create a favorable impact on the kingdom’s commercial real estate market while aiding the development of Saudi Arabia’s businesses. The estimates of the industry growth state that the worth of the industry will be $31. 35 billion by year 2028 at an annual growth rate of 8.65%. This undertaking will also create many employment opportunities which will also be in line with the initiatives to increase national employment through infrastructure and investment projects.
However there are certain challenges which remains. A report by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) stated that the demand for office space was 20% higher in Q2 of 2024 compared to the 53% rise in Q1 of 2024. This scenario infers that the market may be approaching its full absorption capacity or it may have become saturated thus this may have an impact on the demand of office spaces in the new park in the short-run.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia is a regional hub in venture capital, funding for small companies totalizing $2.36 billion in 2023, which is 159% more than the current indicator. The promulgation of a new commercial code with the aim of streamlining judicial procedures for foreign companies will also serve as evidence of the kingdom’s efforts in enabling business incorporation in KSA.
When completed, the Boulevard Business Park is anticipated to place Riyadh on the global map more than it is as a smart city. The fact that the park is located near entertainment places and the use of promotional measures encouraging the use of transport other than automobiles like walking and cycling also fit into Saudi Arabia’s vision of becoming for the most environmentally friendly urban design.
Entertainment is one of the major areas of concern and construction of parks aimed at providing the international companies with the chance to make use of modern equipment and projecting the park in the capital city. This is evidenced by the annual Riyadh Season that attracts millions of people, thus serve as a perfect opportunity to market the different products and services. Coordination that is created between business, entertainment and urban development is expected to generate the needed economic returns because tourism as a sector is targeting to contribute over 10 % of the GDP by 2030.
The Boulevard Business Park presents an ideal environment for a competitive entertainment industry outsourcing that will offer international entertainment ventures an opportunity to enter the growing Saudi market easily. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals are well served through the development as it seeks to brand the kingdom as a hub for entertainment and support for diversification of the economy.
Due its accessibility to the strategic location and appealing to both the technology enterprises and the large corporate organizations, the Boulevard Business Park is expected to be the innovation hub for startups. This shall in turn enhance the business establishment in Saudi Arabia and enhancing the position of the kingdom as one of the most desirable destinations for investors in the foreign realm.
