Achour-ed success

[pullquote]“The land, I think, [is worth] less than this amount, but the amount was [acceptable] like this because we’re not paying immediately”[/pullquote] Even with the smell of untreated wastewater wafting into the air and urban waste effluents annoying bathers in the sea, the property shown on the Beirut cadastral map only as land parcel 3689 was clearly valuable. Real estate developer Wissam Achour must have seen these 5,188 square meters of sandy beach at the southern edge of the upscale Ramlet al-Baida district as a veritable treasure — judging from the fact that his Achour Development in 2011 agreed to pay $175 million for parcel 3689 and the larger plot behind it. The price reflected the undeveloped land’s terrific location and potential for a tourism project, Bahij Abou Mjahed, a lawyer for Achour Development, tells Executive. He admits, however, “The land, I think, [is worth] less than this amount, but