Verdun 5

Verdun Street - Beirut, Lebanon




http://www.khatibalami.com/images/LOGO.jpg

Client : Horizon Development

Project OverView

Construction Cost: 75 Million U.S. $

Built-up Area: 150,000 m²

Design Completion Date: 2005
Construction Completion Date: 2007

Location: Verdun, Beirut - Lebanon

Engineering Services:
Design, Construction Supervision & Managerial Assistance



Project Description:

Composed of four levels, this 51,144 m² development is differentiated in its components, to include a 6,000 m² department store, a 12 screen Cineplex, upscale and mid market fashion and apparel shops, food and beverage outlets, in addition to a possible ice skating rink. Along side this commercial zone, a 20-storey residential tower is planned in the development, incorporating one luxury apartment per floor. Allowing easy access from vehicular and pedestrian routes, the complex will accommodate parking facilities up to 1,800 spaces.

The total built-up area of the development reaches 150,000 m².


The concept design was done in association with Callison Architecture (USA).


http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/4549/verdun54kp.jpg

This newsletter is from over a year ago, but I believe it is the latest information released on this project.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/rhmud/15e3e32f.jpg

This plot of land in the center will be the location of Verdun 5:


http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/rhmud/490b045b.jpg

do any of you know what this is?

Article Excerpt
PROJECT OVERVIEW:

A Kuwaiti/Lebanese joint venture was recently established in view of building a new commercial complex in Lebanon. The partners in the planned undertaking include Kuwait-based UNITED REALTY CO. (URC), an affiliate of KUWAIT PROJECTS CO. (KIPCO), and the local HORIZON DEVELOPMENT, a subsidiary of the HARIRI GROUP.

Construction plans under consideration call for building; - A 5-star, 300-bedroom, hotel on Beirut's elegant corniche that

will subsequently be managed by a top international hotel

chain; - An adjoining conference facility capable of handling more than

1,000 people; - A shopping center and apartment compound in the city's upscale...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.

do any of you know what this is?

Article Excerpt
PROJECT OVERVIEW:

A Kuwaiti/Lebanese joint venture was recently established in view of building a new commercial complex in Lebanon. The partners in the planned undertaking include Kuwait-based UNITED REALTY CO. (URC), an affiliate of KUWAIT PROJECTS CO. (KIPCO), and the local HORIZON DEVELOPMENT, a subsidiary of the HARIRI GROUP.

Construction plans under consideration call for building; - A 5-star, 300-bedroom, hotel on Beirut's elegant corniche that

will subsequently be managed by a top international hotel

chain; - An adjoining conference facility capable of handling more than

1,000 people; - A shopping center and apartment compound in the city's upscale...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.


Arz, what is the source of this information and when do you believe it was published? It sounds a lot like this project with execption of the hotel and it being on the corniche...

It was published in 2003 and it does sound like Verdun 5. Horizon company is also behind it too.

Horizon Development is behind Verdun 2, Verdun 5, and the Kempinski hotel on the Raouche.

im so glad they're finally getting rid of that hideous parking lot! im looking forward to this project so much!!!

^^ Oh I agree, it will just be nice to see those walls and over-grown vines come down and that space be open to the street... I hate the walls along some of the sidewalks...

I liek it. I think it looks really nice next to the Marina towers.

For a secodn I thought the Khatib and Alami was cool because my last name is Alame and my last naem has alot of ways to spell it liek Alame, Alama, Alami but I read it in Arabic and it is spelled differently. The Alame is the same as Ragheb Alame the singer

^^ It is no where near the Marina Towers. It will look nice next to Verdun 730 and Verdun 732.

^^ It is no where near the Marina Towers. It will look nice next to Verdun 730 and Verdun 732.

oh lol I thought that building was the marina tower but now that I look at it better I can see that it's not

Has anyone heard when construction will begin, or has there been any "movement" at the site?

wowwwwwwwww I like the design but the sidewalls of the shoppingcenter are brownish... thats not very nice IMO

^^ Yea I thought the same thing but its not so bad.

In just about 5 years, Verdun will be one of the nicest streets in the country.

The cobble stone, Dunes Center, Verdun Twins, Concorde Center, Verdun 2, Verdun 5, Verdun 730 and 732.... etc. Just amazing!

I took the chance to ask my cousin, and you will all be glad to hear that it's still a hideous parking lot :( maybe soon ...

Any updates on this one?? Its been a longtime since it was proposed, hopefully construction started

i was thinking about this project before and woundering if they have started yet

ohhhh I just realised where this developement will be! its gonna be sick! damn thats amazing! verdun will become hollywood boulevard! believe that!

Verdun 2 is well under way but there has been an extremely long delay concerning Verdun 5.

^^ isn't it at least approved??

The Design is changed i guess,on Khatib & alami website the new updates are as follow:

Design Completion Date: 2007 instead of 2005

Construction Completion Date: 2008 instead of 2007 , and i doubt this as well,i think it's at least 2010 or 2011 if they start this year.

and a small pic of what it looks like the new design.

http://www.khatibalami.com/images/p-5.jpg

^^ Does it seem like the height of the tower has been increased?

Also, dont forget that it is the same developer as the Horizon Tower - and we all know how long it is taking that project to be completed!

i am about to get heavily critisized for this : i actually hate this project and i hope and pray they dont build it

because the stretch of land it is going to be built on is green and has tons of really old trees and gardens and its in the middle of a bustling shopping avenue that already has tons of malls and shopping arcades so why not make it into a garden with a fountain or two and tons of trees ..beirut needs gardens and green spaces desperately especially in the crowded shopping districts ...think about it it'll be like beirut's central park

instead of building another mall do something new.... there are enough malls in beirut to go around to but not enough gardens and breathing spaces

^^ There already is the Sanayeh Garden a mile up the street and no one really uses it. The bottom line is that this is private property and the owner of course wants to make a profit. There is no profit from a park.

Besides, Verdun really needs this mall to establish itself as a world-class shopping destination. The 730, 732, Dunes, etc are really small "malls" and just not enough when you compare Verdun with other world famous up-scale shopping districts.

^^ I totally agree .... and Sanayeh Garden is i think bigger than this plot and no one goes there ... and about a "central park" this plot is 1/100 of 7orsh Bayrout

Snayeh Garden? Are you kidding me? Sanyeh Garden is more like just a square for me, we need a real park in Beirut! Although I like this project.

guys take it easy, we have the sea, and we have few parks here and there, its just ppl rather play on the sea shore than in a park. and we will have on big park in solidere soon, so chill. and the sayane3 park is not so bad, u should check it out once in a while.

Snayeh Garden? Are you kidding me? Sanyeh Garden is more like just a square for me, we need a real park in Beirut! Although I like this project.
He was saying this plot could be a central park so We said Sanayeh is bigger
and our central park is 7orsh bayrout .....

well the project seems to have alot of trees and ''greeneries'' in it! So everyone is happy LOL! I love this project! I hope the tower will be real special

Parks in neighborhoods help filter the air, and keep the temperature regulated, aside from being places children can play (I remember palying in Sanayeh garden), or where people can stop and think, without being constantly engaged in commerce. Walk past a garden in the city in the middle of summer and you can feel the cool air. You need them, as small as they may be, as lungs, as little escape valves. Just having a park a kilometer away, or on the other side of the city, doesn't address the issue.

What little green space should be preserved, but between 'should' and 'would' there's a 40bn dollar debt load, a weak central government, and no real commitment or even consensus to doing anything different from what has been done, in greater or lesser degree, forever: we don't even agree here, where there are people interested in architecture and urban planning.

But I will repeat my argument that I've made elsewhere (transfer of air right, revising Solidere's plans to increase massing in certain critical areas) that the division between jobs/economy/development and preservation/health/ecology is false. These massive developments are always justified on the grounds that they are the only alternative. It's a tuatology, but they are the only alternative only if we refuse to think of any others!

They are thinking of other alternatives in Abu Dhabi. They will build a new city on ecologically sound principles, and their buildings must incorporate simple design elements that help them use less energy. Meanwhile in Beirut the municipality has just given up on its plan to buy private open spaces and turn them into parks with underground parking. No money, no will.

Soon we'll be a city full of (nicely designed) shopping centers. But will the visitors come to buy in them? When they have their own, spanking new, green, stable, and presumably even more luxurious equivalents next door? Maybe, but I think Abu Dhabi, Dubai and others show that we are entering a completely new world here. What will Lebanon's place in it be?

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk7/mohamadm/palaceverdun.jpg

I don't know what happened to the tall tower. I found this renders in the Horizon dev. website. And the project is called Palace Verdun.

Project specifications
Large commercial and shopping center
Luxury Hotel
Luxury suites hotel
Site area: 18,158 m2
Total retail marketable area: 32,000 m2
Total Hotel and suites hotel marketable area: 16,000 m2
Total Built-up area: 149,500 m2

^^ a garden instead has never been so appealing..

this look like pieces of ABC thrown around. how boring.

^^ Yes, yet another unexplained disappointment...but at least the project status is progressing.

Could this alteration be due to any new zoning height restrictions?

Could this alteration be due to any new zoning height restrictions?

It's very possible since the Verdun area is underneath the flightpath for approaches into runway 17.

^^ Yes, but there are exisisting buildings in the area that are already much higher (like the Dunes Tower). What good will this do?

Personnally I prefer it this way, I'm becoming "tower-phobic" concerning Beirut. I don't like the design though. We need more renders to juge better.
About the location, it's right facing the Dunes Center (you can see the fountain if you look close). Is it an empty plot?

^^ Yes, this is currently the private garden/park owned by the Hariri family.

If you check post #3 you can see a Google Earth areal view.

dear freinds, whoever has the authority, kindly fix the spelling mistake, it is place verdun, not palace...

^^ Done
@ Leb.Fr: You're right in a way however this tower was certainly an eye catcher

dear freinds, whoever has the authority, kindly fix the spelling mistake, it is place verdun, not palace...


How do you know this? In the article LeB.Fr posted it was called "Palace Verdun"

^^ Yes, but there are exisisting buildings in the area that are already much higher (like the Dunes Tower). What good will this do?

The plot where this project will be built (the garden) is located exactly underneath the flightpath of the approach into runway 17. The Dunes Tower is to the west of the flightpath.

How do you know this? In the article LeB.Fr posted it was called "Palace Verdun"

No, the website where he got the renderings and information from says Place Verdun.

http://www.horizon-dev.com

^^ Yes, this is currently the private garden/park owned by the Hariri family.

If you check post #3 you can see a Google Earth areal view.

I hope they keep some of the trees there and blend it with the design (though i don't see that happening)! some are really old :ohno:

I just read a property owned by kipco is being sold..wonder if its this one...I also saw in 2009 this project was changed to a big hotel and conference center