Local developer Antonios Projects expects to award the main construction contract for Beirut’s tallest tower in October.

“We are currently in the tendering phase and the main contractor will be nominated at the beginning of October,” says a source involved with the project.

The 50-floor, 200-metre, Sama Beirut Tower will be located in the Sodeco area of Beirut, which is near to the airport and downtown Beirut.

The development will include seven floors of offices and 40 residential floors, which will contain 71 apartments.  The tower will contain seven basements, which will contain parking facilities for more than 700 cars.

The scheme will also contain a 1,000 square metre private health club and swimming pool. The building will be leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) certified. Excavation works are already underway, and the estimated completion date for the project is 2014.

The architects are Elie and Randya Gebrayel, from the local Erga Group.

The Sama tower development is part of Beirut’s urban regeneration scheme, after much of the city’s infrastructure was destroyed during the 15-year civil war which ended in 1990.

The local real estate company Benchmark development expects to tender the main construction contract for its $500m Beirut Terraces residential project in central Beirut within the next 12 months.

The tower will be located in the Mina El Hosn area of the Beirut central district and will consist of 25 residential floors and 130 apartments (MEED 21:7:10).