The long delayed and much anticipated southern section of the Beirut Souks is finally open. On October 2, the public was given its first opportunity to wander through and visit the few shops that have opened, with others to follow suit before the souk’s grand opening at the end of the year. Rami Ariss, the land, sales and real estate leasing division manager at Solidere, the developer behind the project, said that the reason the Beirut Souks had a soft opening is to respect the arrangements with tenants and the beginning of the fall season. “When you open an area like this, you have to respect the fashion and the season… so we respected the requests of the tenants to be ready at that time,” explained Ariss. “So if they are not ready, that’s their problem.” However, some stores are delayed because of the long approval process they had to
