[Airliners 2000]

Welcome to Beirut, Lebanon.
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/Beirutcity.jpg

If you want to familiarize yourself with the city, check this thread:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=96903

Beirut is a city that went through a 15-year devastating civil war which came to an end in 1990.

Just a few years later, an ambitious reconstruction effort of the most devastated area, the Beirut Central District (BCD), the heart of the city was embarked in 1994 when the $2 billion Lebanese real-estate company, SOLIDERE was created, which stands for Société Libanaise pour le Développement et la Reconstruction, which is French for The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction.

http://www.entertrainingetc.com/solidere%20logo.gif

Here is SOLIDERE's website:
http://www.solidere.com

I would like to add that a lot of the foreign investment that has been attracted to Lebanon can be thanked to this government agency which provides subsidies, incentives, and tax breaks:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/IDAL.gif
http://www.idal.com.lb

Here is an aerial of the Beirut Central District (BCD). On the left, you can see the land reclamation in progress which will give Beirut a new waterfront. This reclamation is being done partly by expanding the Normandy Landfill, which was a big dump that was created during the civil war.

Take a good look at the marina (not the port), as the main projects in this thread focus around this area.
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/BCDaerial.jpg

Now here is a map of the BCD area:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/map.png http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/maplegend.gif
The darkest areas are areas that will involve high-rise development.

The dashed red line in the above map is the original coastline, so you can see how much land is being added. Dubai isn't the only city in the Middle East that is developing a new waterfront! ;)

The entire Solidere project is divided into two phases:

Phase I: 1994-2004
Phase II: 2005-2020

Phase I has been completed and if you watch my Beirut tour in the following link, you will get a taste of what has been developed in the past 10 years:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=96903

Phase II focuses on continuing the completion of the new waterfront to be able to develop including the future East Marina, the continuing development of the existing Beirut marina area, the development of the 1st basin of the port into a tourist attraction, the development of Martyr's Square, and the development of numerous high rises.

Now, I will focus on the high-rise projects that are coming up around the marina. I will go in order from left to right (from the perspective as if you were in a boat in the marina). The following highrise are popping up right next to each other to create a mini skyline that overlooks the marina.

25-story Four Seasons Hotel, to be completed early 2007:
http://www.profinanceintl.com/Photos/four-Season-Beirut-KHI-L.jpg

26-story Marina Tower and shorter Marina Garden and Marina Court annexes. These are residential towers.:
http://www.buylebanese.com/images/v1.jpg

The Marina Towers and Four Seasons will share an underground pedestrian tunnel (that goes below the busy road) to the newly developed Beirut Marina.

While these two projects are completely independent, they are intentionally designed similarly to add symmetry to the skyline.

The Marina Tower and Marina Gardens will be completed this April, while the Marina Court will be completed in late 2007.

For more information on the Marina Towers project, check this thread:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=99013

The 27-story Beirut Tower, also residential, to be completed this December:
http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/674/28beirut-beiruttower-01.jpg

The 34-story Platinum Tower, also residential, to be completed December 2007:
http://www.ngarchitecture.com/LIBRARY/html/Platinum_tower/PT_3DImage2.jpg

The low-rise pink building which appears to be attached to the Platinum Tower (and may very well be attached when the tower is completed), is the existing Monroe Hotel. A nice little 4-star hotel.

Immediately behind the Platinum Tower on another lot, a high-rise residential tower will be coming up as well, but I don't know any details. Behind that, a 27-story residential tower being built by premier UAE-developer, DAMAC Properties is to be built. The DAMAC property was announced just last November and I have not found any renderings of what it will look like, but once I do, I will post it here.

Between the Beirut Tower and the Platinum Tower, there will be a little green open space and from there, there will be a very strange pedestrian bridge that will go over the busy road to the marina.

Here is a sketch of what it may look like:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/bridge.gif

Here is a shot of the Marina Towers coming up, taken in November:
http://www.mea707.lrehosting.com/Beirut05/100_3493.jpg

I question whether it will be completed by this April or not...seems too soon.

In this shot, you can see the Marina Towers and the Beirut Tower on the right side of the photo:
http://www.mea707.lrehosting.com/Beirut05/100_3500.jpg

I also question whether the Beirut Tower will be completed this December or not...

Here's a shot of the overall site:
http://www.mea707.lrehosting.com/Beirut05/100_3501.jpg

Now that I have shown you these high rise developments coming up around the marina, here is a small picture of a model showing what the entire area will one day look like, take a look at all 4 high rises, compare it to the aerial photograph I posted above:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/marina.png

As you can see also, the marina area has been developed as well.

The Beirut Marina was opened last April, however there is still a lot of work to be done around the marina itself. It can however already accomodate more than 300 yachts.

The marina itself will be developped to include a building with apartments/hotel, yacht club, restaurants, cafes, harbourmaster, public facilities, retail stores and Lebanese customs & immigration buildings:

The low building you see is proposed to contain apartments and possibly a small hotel:
http://www.stevenholl.com/images/325WD03.jpg

http://www.stevenholl.com/images/325WD02.jpg

http://www.stevenholl.com/images/325WD01.jpg

There are plenty of other high rise developments in the planning, though details have yet to be released.

So now I will share some of the "little" projects going on, but still important. The following are from Solidere's 2004 annual report. Once the 2005 annual report comes out, I will post the projects they have. The 2003 annual report still has some projects that are under development.

Please note that some of the following are already under construction and may be nearing completion or already recently completed, while others may just be starting. I don't have any precise details. Some of these buildings are ones that are being restored (the more old fashioned designs) while some are completely new builds.

178 Saifi Village - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/178saifivillage.png

1368 Mina El Hosn - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/1368minaelhosn-residential.png

Royal Hotels & Resorts. This is an interesting project that involves the development of a 50-room and 50-suite luxurious boutique hotel and some apartments. It takes up 3 lots and involves the construction of new buildings as well as the renovation of 4 historic Levantine houses. I am interested to see how it will unravel.
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/royalhotelsandresorts.png

Two Park Avenue - offices:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/twoparkavenue.png

Bank of Kuwait and the Arab World - offices, this is an old building that is being restored:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/bankofkuwaitandthearabworld.png

Starway furnished apartments:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/starwayfurnishedapartments.png

Al Dalal - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/aldalal-residential.png

Medgulf -office:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/medgulf-office.png

146 Saifi - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/146saifi.png

Société Foch 94 - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/societefoch94-residential.png

For more information on the above project (Foch 94), check their website:
http://www.foch94.com

Talon - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/talonresidential.png

Société Sémiramis - office:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/societesemiramis.png

Dana of C.C.C. - residential, this building is actually to come up immediately infront of the Beirut Tower, but it will only very minorly block the Beirut Tower's view of the marina:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/danaofccc-residential.png

45 Park Avenue - residential:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/45parkavenue-residential.png

Grand Hyatt Hotel:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/grandhyatt-hotel.png

Lebanese Canadian Bank:
http://mea707.lrehosting.com/solidere/lebanesecanadianbank.png

As I mentioned already, the above small renderings were taken from Solidere's 2004 annual report. Some projects from the 2003 annual report are still under development, so if you'd like to see what else is going on, check out the 2003 report:
http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/sale03.pdf

Next to the Medgulf building which I posted above, this office park complex is being developed, the Berytus Parks. While not huge, it will have some of the best offices in Beirut:
http://www.berytusparks.com/gallery/1.jpg

http://www.berytusparks.com/gallery/2.jpg

http://www.berytusparks.com/gallery/3.jpg

http://www.berytusparks.com/gallery/4.jpg

Berytus Parks will be completed soon. For more information, check their website:
http://www.berytusparks.com

Next to the Berytus Parks and Medgulf buildings, a 170-room Hilton Hotel is under construction following a similar theme. It will be a business hotel catered for the immediate area and should be completed later this year.
http://www.davislangdonlb.com/hilton.jpg

And before you guys ask "Where's the office high-rises? All the high-rises are either hotels or residential and all the offices are low/medium rises."

I'll just say that there ARE numerous office high-rises planned, but not for a couple more years. The Beirut Trade Center will be a 40-story office high rise.

This photograph was taken in summer 2004, but it is relevant for the last project I will be sharing. Immediately next to the UFA Assurances building, you can see a parking lot. The UFA Assurances building is a restored building and it was attached to a building that was torn down, so that's why you see a parking lot in its place. As a result, the backside and the rightside of this building is nothing but a wall with no windows.
http://www.mea707.lrehosting.com/Beirutpost/100_0399.JPG

The parking lot is currently in development and a luxurious boutique hotel called Bab el Saray (Arabic for Door of the Palace) will be popping up. It will feature ground floor retail and a cafe/restaurant on the roof with a beautiful view of Martyr's Square:
http://www.hanimuradgroup.com/achievements/images/bcd.jpg

I am not entirely sure, but a part of the building might also have offices and/or a shopping center.

This boutique hotel might become a Ritz Carlton. I know that Ritz Carlton is looking to have a property in Beirut. It however, might be a completely independent boutique hotel.

Well that's it for this post. As I find out about new projects, I will add them. I am waiting for the 2005 annual report, which will hopefully include a rendering of the new 27-story residential tower being built by DAMAC Properties.

In a few days, I will be making a thread about another, big and exclusive project being developped in the heart of the Beirut Central district called the Souks of Beirut.

Stay tuned...

[Stephenapolis]

Nice to see new life in Beirut. I have friends that fled there in the early 80's. They really loved it until the war.

[Airliners 2000]

Nice to see new life in Beirut. I have friends that fled there in the early 80's. They really loved it until the war.

The war was extremely devastating to Beirut and the entire country. These are days we never want to see again.

By the way, what do you all think of this crazy looking project designed by famous French-architect, Jean Nouvel. It's being built in the heart of the Beirut Central District:

http://www.worldviewcities.org/beirut/images/beirut/city_5.jpg

http://france.archiseek.com/news/2004/000009.jpg

The Landmark
The Landmark in downtown Beirut, comprising residential, commercial and entertainment premises as well as a luxury hotel, is a USD149 million project designed by the well-known architect Jean Nouvel. The mixed-use center will include a 5-star hotel with 175 rooms and 15 suites, 39 service apartments and apartments for sale, as well as a health club, spa and business center. In addition, a shopping mall, cinema and entertainment center will be incorporated, all with access to ample underground parking facilities.
The focal point of Nouvel’s design will be a 150-meter tower flanked by two additional buildings, both connected to the tower by pedestrian bridges at various levels. The 44-meter North Building will have 9 floors, while the South Building will, at 55 meters, be 10 floors high.
The project, expected to be completed by December 2008 and provide around 345 job opportunities, is being developed by Landmark s.a.l. and was awarded investment and development incentives as per Package Deal Contract.

I don't like it. :yuck:

[JBinCalgary]

there are some great looking projects there

[Airliners 2000]

Here is an article today about Beirut's booming market for boutique hotels:

Lebanon's hospitality sector taps into virgin boutique hotel market
Move comes in response to increasing demand for rooms

By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Beirut: Lebanon's hospitality sector is branching out into the untapped boutique hotel market, with three projects in development in Beirut Central District (BCD) and one on Gemmayzeh's Gouraud Street. Christian FernainŽ, the co-founder of the management consulting firm Ulysses, said that the current spate of boutique development is a response to increasing demand for rooms in Lebanon.

"There will be 3,000-4,000 new more rooms by 2008 when the construction of the Hyatt, Four Seasons, and Rotana hotels are completed, but the local market needs 8,000-10,000 more rooms," he said.

Here's the rest of the article:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=22757

[Edan]

Go Beirut!!!!

[Airliners 2000]

The streets in the Beirut Central District are designed to accommodate Formula One races.

When the new waterfront is fully completed, it is hoped that Beirut will attract a Formula One race.

[Airliners 2000]

IDAL: Completed Projects Amounted to $412m in 2005

According to IDAL (Investment Development Authority for Lebanon), completed investment projects for the year 2005 amounted to $412m, up from $142m in 2004 and $131m in 2003. IDAL facilitated investments through the One-Stop-Shop service which offers investors facilities through Package Deal Contracts (PDC) and Investment Projects (IP). The Package Deal Contract is a package of special incentives, exemptions and reductions offered to Investment Projects bound by a contract stipulating the specific terms, rights, and obligations of both IDAL and the investor. The amount of PDC reached $400m out of the total $412m, while IP accounted for the remaining $12m.

[Tom In Chicago]

Nice list of projects. . . I'd like to visit Beirut sometime. . .

[urbanlife]

some amazing work going on there. It looks like Beirut is on the path to reclaiming their world class status.

[big W]

Its a great city. I for one hope to live there some day. Been there 2 times and a third trip is needed.

[Airliners 2000]

Nice list of projects. . . I'd like to visit Beirut sometime. . .

I'm sure you'd like it. It's a very fun, hospitable, cosmopolitan, and open city.

[Airliners 2000]

$600 million project for central Beirut

Saturday, April 01, 2006

BEIRUT: Privately-owned Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) has launched a real estate project in central Beirut worth around $600 million. Beirut Gate will include buildings housing luxury residential and business accommodation, ADIH chief executive officer Rashed Janahi told a news conference Friday.

The United Arab Emirates firm launched a $160 million private stock placement in January to finance the first phase of the project, including the initial cost of the land and master plan.

The company said in January it expected the placement to offer a return on investment of 37.5 percent over an 18 month period.

"The subscription attracted a great deal of interest from investors because they view Lebanon as a favorite investment destination," Lebanon's official National News Agency quoted Janahi as saying.

He did not set a date for the implementation of the project, one of the biggest investments in central Beirut, which has been largely rebuilt after the 1975-1990 Civil War.

Real estate developer Solidere, Lebanon's biggest company, is the main contractor in the area.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23439

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Details about the project can be found in this article:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23422

Now here's the really exciting part from that article:
Chammaa also said Solidere will soon announce the launching of two other real estate projects in the area, one of which will exceed the budget of "Beirut Gate."

I can't wait to find out what these two new projects will be about!

[Airliners 2000]

A $1.3 billion project called The Phoenician Village was launched by Levant Holding, a part of the Kuwaiti Al Sayer Group.

It will be the biggest project in Beirut's history so far and will be built on the northeastern portion of the Beirut Central District (BCD) overlooking the port.

It will include offices, residential complexes, shopping malls, hotels, cinemas and much more.

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={F8717CA9-B8B5-4678-BCAA-F763CC65276D}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={8FC2F086-3EA4-4C81-AE08-FFC07C62324D}http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={029E8FC4-8017-49A7-BB26-C584503145E6}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={79AE2DB9-C475-496B-80BD-55EE3BE97185}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={15DEEADA-45C3-423E-8A1F-859A1B28FC22}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={E6D74CA7-FDBE-4D85-94F7-D52ACB05B60A}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={D5337998-462A-4300-B583-9AF6B8F16BCD}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={9CE16C3C-5E0A-4917-AAD6-4CB6D5844451}

http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BacoDiscussionsBlob.asp?ID={588A33B3-6B84-442D-86C9-AE29777ED59B}

More information can be found here:
http://portal.alsayer.net/docs/BDDocument.asp?Action=View&ID={896BCA1A-B5FE-404C-A0CE-C3DE5B7F98DB}

[Grego43]

It will be wonderful to see Beirut once again live up to is former title "Paris of the Middle East". I hope it will be better and more beautiful than ever...the Lebanese certainly deserve it!

[Beiruti]

^^ I wouldnt call it a former title, because Beirut already lives up to it and is becoming even better than it once was. And yes, the Lebanese have been through a lot and they certainly deserve this.

[nomarandlee]

very good classy developments going on in Beirut. A bit of an anthesis to its near neighbords which is great.

[Airliners 2000]

Here are renderings of the $600 million Beirut Gate project launched early last month by Abu Dhabi Investment House:

http://www.adih.ae/images/adihlogo1.gif

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/1.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/2.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/3.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/4.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/5.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/6.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/7.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/8.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/9.jpg

http://mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/10.jpg

This project will be a mix of residential and office components.

The Beirut Gate and the Phoenician Village projects are the two largest projects in development in Beirut.

[Estephan]

I heard that 2 new projects were in the making in the downtown area (in the last 2 weeks or so) Does anyone have any information about them?

1) La residence , by Ivana TRUMP!!! (DAMAC) (I think 27 stories high)
2)Unknown (i think 19 stories high)

Thanks in advance!

[Estephan]

I ment 29 stories not 19... oops :p

[Airliners 2000]

I heard that 2 new projects were in the making in the downtown area (in the last 2 weeks or so) Does anyone have any information about them?

1) La residence , by Ivana TRUMP!!! (DAMAC) (I think 27 stories high)
2)Unknown (i think 19 stories high)

Thanks in advance!

I'm glad you brought them up! I was just getting around to posting them on here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Tower - $25 million 29-story residential tower being developed by International Investment Bank (IIB) to be built on a plot of land overlooking Martyr's Square.

http://www.tradearabia.com/source/2006-06/13/tower.jpg

http://www.tradearabia.com/tanews/newsdetails_snBANK_article106572_cnt.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
la Residence by Ivana Trump - $150 million 27-story residential tower being developed by DAMAC Properties to be built on a prime lot near the Beirut Marina.

http://www.tradearabia.com/source/2006-06/26/damac.jpg

http://www.tradearabia.com/tanews/newsdetails_snREAL_article107259.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

[wpolom]

I'am very sorry for what happened to Lebannon and the beautiful city of Beirut and its people. I prey that after this crisis is over this beautiful city will come back better thant ever. Beirut is truly the Paris of the Middle East.

[texastarkus]

I'am very sorry for what happened to Lebannon and the beautiful city of Beirut and its people. I prey that after this crisis is over this beautiful city will come back better thant ever. Beirut is truly the Paris of the Middle East.


I agree....I would like to visit this beautiful city some day, but the politics have to settle down

[Tom In Chicago]

Yeah. . . hopefully they can clean up the mess soon. . . looking forward to seeing some of those buildings. . .

[kenc]

Not to be a complete pessimist, but if the cease fire which began just today does not hold, I'm afraid this beautiful city will never recover. International investors simply will not build in a city that is destroyed every 10 years.
At the very least, most of the buildings we see on this thread will take many years to complete, or will be abandoned completely.

[Grego43]

Let's hope the Lebanese can regain all of that momentum they had before the "war", and also that all of the investors have not been scared off.

[econgrad]

Will this thread be updated? I would like to know how Beruit is doing after the crisis....

[Airliners 2000]

Will this thread be updated? I would like to know how Beruit is doing after the crisis....

Yes, I will be sure to keep it updated.

All projects are going to proceed as usual with the exception of the Phoenician Village which has been put on hold for the time being.