Beirut Gate, the $600 million Abu Dhabi-financed real estate development in Solidere, is going ahead as planned. How quickly and successfully it does so will be a confidence test for the local market. Covering a total footprint of 21,448 m2 and a built-up area of 178,500 m2, the project consists of eight separate plots, on which eight separate but thematically-linked buildings are to be constructed. Residential space will anchor the development, accounting for 120,000 m2, whilst 25,000 m2 is set aside for ground-floor retail units and the rest is offices. In terms of location, it will occupy most of the remaining empty land in the north-east of Solidere, including the open area near the Tabaris overpass, and, most controversially, the sites currently home to the ‘dome’ cinema and the nearby ruined church. Six of the planned buildings will be designed by two architects: Christian de Portzamparc, the man behind Paris’s
