Fadi Khoury

For the last 10 years, Fadi Khoury, owner of the once-resplendent St. Georges Hotel on the Corniche, has been fighting what he calls a relentless hostile effort by Solidere to swallow up his property. At the same time, he has been nurturing a dream of returning the hotel to its former glory. That dream, which Khoury claims had become close to realization, was shattered on February 14 by the massive seafront explosion that ripped the façade of his hotel, destroyed his offices, killed five members of his staff, buried him in rubble and – ironically – killed his nemesis, Solidere icon and former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. EXECUTIVE spoke to Khoury about the effect of the explosion on him personally, on his business, and on Lebanon as a whole. What effect has the explosion had on you? I can’t think. It’s too dramatic. It’s unbelievable. We hadn’t conceived that such