The once salmon-coloured façade of Beirut’s St. Georges hotel remains a smashed, blackened testimony to the massive February explosion that killed former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri just in front of the building. St. Georges owner Fadi Khoury had finished refurbishing the hotel structure and exterior, at a cost of $15 million, shortly before the blast. Nearly five months on, he still has no office, he can’t begin repairs until the UN investigation is completed and he is struggling to replace the five staff killed in the attack. On top of all this he says, the long-running dispute with Downtown developers Solidere has shown sign of weakening.
“We’re nowhere,” Khoury said despondently. “All we’re doing right now is trying to exist.”
But although a disillusioned Khoury told EXECUTIVE in March he might “step back and rethink the whole thing from a different perspective” he hasn’t yet thrown in the towel. The St.Georges beach and yacht club, adjacent to the hotel, is open for business, thanks to a $100,000 investment program that began before the February blast. True, anyone arriving by land must pass through a nondescript metal gate and along a rough gravel pathway – the original entrance is inaccessible because it is still part of the crime scene.
“If it appears that the world has changed in Lebanon, if there is so much as a sliver of positive attitude from the government, I will go ahead and start work on the hotel again,” Khoury pledged. “I am still hopeful that things will look and better and that I will emerge from my slumber.”
“The St. Georges hotel is a monument that must be reconstructed,” said real estate consultant Raja Makarem. “It is part of the history of Lebanon. Unfortunately, once the investigation into Hariri’s murder has ended, I fear the St. Georges situation will go back to what it was. Mr. Khoury will have to resign himself to either rehabilitating or selling the hotel.”
