Mandarin Oriental
rescheduled for 2018

Luxury property valued at over $200 million

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced that it will manage a new luxury hotel and branded residences, expected to open in Beirut in 2018.

The hotel is located on Bachoura 987, an over 60,000 square meter plot, in Downtown Beirut. It is the land that hosts the famous ‘Egg Building’, also known as the Samadi and Salha building, a shopping center and movie theater ruin dating to the 1970s.

The Mandarin Oriental project was unveiled in 2012. It acquired a Package Deal Contract incentive from IDAL. It has an investment of $208 million. According to Abbas Ramadan, Senior Investment Officer at IDAL, the incentive package expires within five years. “If works are not finalized by 2017, the project’s management will have to ask for an extension of the package,” he said.

The project is owned by the Saudi Olayan Group. In addition to the Mandarin, the group acquired last May the Hotel Ritz, Madrid.

The development encompasses two adjacent buildings located in Beirut’s Central District. The hotel will be situated in the southern tower. It will consist of 280 rooms and suites, along with 25 serviced apartments. The northern tower will provide 103 branded residences. The hotel will include a spa and a fitness center, a number of F&B outlets, including fine dining restaurants and club lounge. It will also have a meeting room and two ballrooms that cater to 570 people. The project is designed by Singapore-based architect Kerry Hill.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group operates, or has under development, 46 hotels representing 11,000 rooms in 25 countries, with 21 hotels in Asia, nine in the Americas and 16 in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group also operates or has under development, 16 residences connected to its properties.