A home away from home

It is impossible to miss the three glittering towers of the Verdun Gardens compound as one drives by. The new project, at the intersection of the Qoreitem and Verdun areas of Beirut, also incorporates a collection of stores located in the green plaza beneath.  The compound is the latest development from Soligran SAL and Soligran Hotels — both fully owned subsidiaries of Bahaa Hariri’s Horizon Development, a property investment and development group. Two of the 22-floor structures are exclusively residential, while the remaining one is the country’s first Staybridge Suites, the international long-term stay hotel franchise operated by the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG).  So far, the project’s residential branch is performing reasonably well, with 17 of the 44 approximately 575 square-meter apartments sold — mainly to Lebanese — at a starting price of $5,500 per square meter (sqm) at the first level and up to $6,775 per sqm, according to