The Tahseen Khayat Group will soft open a new hotel, on Bliss Street (Hamra), called ‘1866’ in November, with a grand opening in December 2014.

The hotel consists of a 19-floor tower, with seven underground parking levels for 500 vehicles. It has 92 suites ranging from 25 square meter simplexes to 100 m2 duplexes. The building includes four floors dedicated to commercial outlets, totaling 5,000 m2. These already include Prime on Bliss cinema, which opened last year. Other tenants include coffee shops, restaurants, such as Roadster Diner, Paul, and Maki Gourmet, U Energy gym and Simon Mondalak hair designer, among others.

The $70 million project is built on a 2,800 m2 plot, with a total built-up area of 26,000 m2. 

Omar Mamlouk, Managing Partner of Phoenix Hospitality Management, a hospitality consultancy, subsidiary of Tahseen Khayat Group, which runs the hotel, said that each room is worth $18,000 in terms of furniture and equipment. “This makes our rooms more expensive than those in several other five-star hotels.”

The design of the hotel holds the signature of renowned architect Bernard Khoury. Works started in 2010.

Hamra has always held appeal for hospitality investors. During the last two years, several developments have been launched and others are underway. Last year, the $5 million four-star Q Hotel, opened on Wardieh Street, facing Fransabank. Queen Hospitality, chaired by businessman Nassim Kanso, manages the hotel. The chain also runs the Queens Suite Hotel and Villa Queens in the Hamra area. The Staybridge Suites hotel, part of the InterContinental chain, has also opened to the public.  The hotel is owned by Soligran Hotel, a fully-owned subsidiary of Bahaa Hariri’s property investment and development group, Horizon Development. Soligran Hotel and the international chain InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) had signed an agreement in 2010, awarding the hotel’s management to IHG, which owns the Staybridge brand. Investment in the project totaled around $45 million and benefited from incentives by IDAL.

Le Bristol has invested $20 million to renovate its premises, and is expected to reopen before the end of 2014. The Dubai-based Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) is getting ready to launch the four-star Coral Beirut Concorde Hotel.