Beirut's Hilton Rises From the Ruins of War
October 19, 2000 - 0:0
BEIRUT A feast was being prepared for the inauguration party of the Beirut Hilton when the civil war erupted in April 1975 and the 400-room hotel found itself in the middle of a battle zone.
Management took out a small advert saying the party was postponed indefinitely. The hotel never opened, turning instead into a looted and burnt-out edifice like the rest of the hotel district along the Mediterranean seafront.
Now, 25 years later, the Saudi-run Societe Mediterranean Des Grands Hotels has obtained a long-awaited permit to demolish the ruin and build a new 20-story Hilton at a cost of $70 million.
"It is such an ugly building. We will be so glad to see it go," said Rabih Ammache, a board member of the company, which bought the Hilton in 1980 for the equivalent of $20 million.
"There was a burst of optimism in the country then. The board thought the civil war would not last long," he says. In fact, it lasted 10 more years.
Societe Mediterranneenne had already invested $1.5 million on designs to renovate the building when an agreement was reached with the government allowing it to be demolished.
The new hotel will be marble-clad with a rooftop restaurant and a 1,000 sq.m banqueting hall.
The Hilton should help to restore the glamor of the seaside hotel district, where the $100 million Phoenicia reopened in March but other projects are on hold.
The owner of the Saint Georges Hotel, favored in old times by journalists, politicians and diplomats and dubbed "the center of the Middle East", is locked in a long dispute with solidere, the company that won the concession to rebuild downtown Beirut.
The Kuwaiti and Lebanese owners of the massive damaged 600-room Holiday Inn are still undecided when to rebuild.
But real estate consultants are hopeful the rebuilding of the Hilton might encourage others.
Demolition will begin in three to four weeks, and construction will take around three years, said Ammache, who built the 600-room Jeddah Sheraton.
Although Lebanon is no longer the business magnet that it used to be as the only open economy in the Middle East, Ammache said it still has charms: "Despite everything there is a warmth and character to Lebanon that still attracts visitors, unlike anywhere else in the Middle East." (Reuter)
Management took out a small advert saying the party was postponed indefinitely. The hotel never opened, turning instead into a looted and burnt-out edifice like the rest of the hotel district along the Mediterranean seafront.
Now, 25 years later, the Saudi-run Societe Mediterranean Des Grands Hotels has obtained a long-awaited permit to demolish the ruin and build a new 20-story Hilton at a cost of $70 million.
"It is such an ugly building. We will be so glad to see it go," said Rabih Ammache, a board member of the company, which bought the Hilton in 1980 for the equivalent of $20 million.
"There was a burst of optimism in the country then. The board thought the civil war would not last long," he says. In fact, it lasted 10 more years.
Societe Mediterranneenne had already invested $1.5 million on designs to renovate the building when an agreement was reached with the government allowing it to be demolished.
The new hotel will be marble-clad with a rooftop restaurant and a 1,000 sq.m banqueting hall.
The Hilton should help to restore the glamor of the seaside hotel district, where the $100 million Phoenicia reopened in March but other projects are on hold.
The owner of the Saint Georges Hotel, favored in old times by journalists, politicians and diplomats and dubbed "the center of the Middle East", is locked in a long dispute with solidere, the company that won the concession to rebuild downtown Beirut.
The Kuwaiti and Lebanese owners of the massive damaged 600-room Holiday Inn are still undecided when to rebuild.
But real estate consultants are hopeful the rebuilding of the Hilton might encourage others.
Demolition will begin in three to four weeks, and construction will take around three years, said Ammache, who built the 600-room Jeddah Sheraton.
Although Lebanon is no longer the business magnet that it used to be as the only open economy in the Middle East, Ammache said it still has charms: "Despite everything there is a warmth and character to Lebanon that still attracts visitors, unlike anywhere else in the Middle East." (Reuter)