Design hub
opened in Bourj Hammoud

Restaurant, café,

and sports club planned

A former stainless steel factory on Bourj Hammoud’s seaside road has been transformed into D Beirut, a design hub hosting nine outlets. Future plans include a café and restaurant, and a rooftop sports club, as well as an additional floor of design outlets, according to Raymond Jureidini, who, with his brother, Eric, owns the hub. They are also co-partners of Solarco stainless steel manufacturing company.

Investments have been put into infrastructure, such as roads that surround the factory, as well as into the refurbishment of the plant itself.

“To get the interior fit for purpose, it has cost us around $330-$400 per square meter (m2),” said Jureidini.

Karim Bekdache architect firm was the company behind the building’s refurbishment.

The three-floor factory is located on a 3,600 m2 plot. Each floor is approximately 2,800 m2.

“We have rented all the spaces except for one,” said Jureidini.

The tenants include Carwan Gallery, a contemporary design gallery, Garen Demirdjian, a fashion designer, Karim Bekdache Studio for architecture design, Raafat Karimeh, designer and creative consultant, Roger Moukarzel of Minime Production and photography, Solarco for industrial kitchen custom made fabrication, Vick Vanlian, and architecture and designer, as well as Yoga Souk studio.

The ground floor is currently rented to Café Najjar, but Jureidini said that the contract will expire in 12 months.

“If they don’t renew, we will transform that space into another design hub,” he said.

There are plans to include a café and restaurant soon, as well as to transform the roof space into a sports club.

Part of the former Solarco stainless steel factory was already being used as an event venue.

Solarco stainless steel is exported worldwide to the UK, Hong Kong, and Africa.

Reported by Derek A. Issacs