Recycling the ruins: The new life of Lebanon’s abandoned factories

Long seen as symbols of Lebanon’s industrial decline, abandoned factories are now experiencing an unexpected second life. Cultural venues, warehouses, workshops, creative hubs, and logistics centers facing economic collapse, these forgotten spaces are being transformed, sometimes out of necessity, often through sheer ingenuity.

For years, deserted factories formed the silent backdrop of Lebanon’s crisis: rusted doors, frozen machinery, layers of dust, and memories of a once-productive country. Yet in recent years, especially since 2019, these industrial wastelands have begun to stir again. Not thanks to a national plan or an ambitious public policy, but driven by private initiative, adaptation… and a healthy dose of Lebanese resourcefulness.

Before the crisis, Lebanon counted more than 6000 industrial establishments. According to professional estimates, nearly 40% of them shut down or significantly scaled back operations between 2019 and 2022. The result: hundreds of empty warehouses in Mkalles, Bourj Hammoud, Nahr el-Mott, Dora, Zahlé, and Tripoli. But in Lebanon, empty space rarely stays empty for long.

Logistics, storage, and economic survival

The first major wave of reconversion came through storage and logistics. With the boom in wholesale trade, parallel imports, and the cash economy, many factories were converted into food warehouses, distribution centers, or storage facilities for traders and importers.

In Mkalles and Dora, industrial rents fell by 30 to 50% between 2018 and 2021, making these spaces attractive for low-margin, high-volume activities.

“Producing was no longer profitable. At least storage allowed us to survive,” explains a former industrialist who shifted into logistics.

From sheet metal to design: The rise of creative hubs

Another surprise emerged as some factories were transformed into creative workshops, art studios, coworking spaces, or hybrid cultural venues. In Beirut and its outskirts, former industrial sites now host furniture designers and carpenters, local design brands, sewing and recycling workshops, as well as cultural events and pop-up exhibitions.

The model is simple: large spaces, negotiable rents, raw aesthetics. What was once a drawback has become an asset.

Repair, recycling, and the informal economy

With purchasing power collapsing, repair has come back into fashion. Many industrial sites now house appliance repair workshops, metal and plastic recycling centers, and small-scale artisanal production units.

According to sector estimates, the informal economy now accounts for more than 50% of Lebanon’s productive activity, and these repurposed industrial spaces often form its beating heart. In short, what the state failed to do, the private sector improvised.

A transformation without a strategy

No national strategy for industrial reconversion has been implemented. No specific legal framework. No financial support. And yet, transformation happened.

“This is not an industrial renaissance. It is a functional renaissance,” sums up an urban planner.

In other words, Lebanon no longer produces as it once did but it makes better use of what remains.

With even a minimum of vision, these sites could evolve into light production zones, green economy hubs, technical training centers, or structured creative clusters. For now, however, they move forward without a safety net, driven by urgency rather than strategy.

Lebanon’s abandoned factories have not regained their former glory but they have refused to die. They have adapted, improvised, and transformed. In the absence of a strategic state, they tell another Lebanese story: that of a country recycling its ruins in order to keep moving forward.

This may not be an industrial renaissance. But it is, without a doubt, a new life.

Abandoned factories in numbers

●6,000+ industrial establishments recorded in Lebanon before the crisis (2018).

●35-45% of factories shut down or significantly reduced activity between 2019 and 2022.

●30-50% drop in industrial rents in key areas such as Mkalles, Dora, and Nahr el-Mott since 2018.

●Over 50% of national productive activity now takes place in the informal sector.

●One in three factories partially converted into warehouses, workshops, logistics spaces, or hybrid uses (professional estimates).

●4 to 6 months on average to convert an industrial hangar into a storage or light-activity space, with limited investment.