 The hippodrome site is near the Maghen Abraham Synagogue in Wadi Abu Jamil, the historic, Jewish quarter of Beirut.In 2009, the site was officially listed in the general inventory of historic buildings, and the Culture Minister Tamam Salam ruled that it should be preserved "in situ" and turned into a tourist landmark.According to an article appearing in the French daily, "L’Orient le Jour", Gaby Layoun, the Culture Minister at the time, approved in March 2012 plans for a luxury residential complex to be built over the ruins of Beirut’s Roman Hippodrome, bypassing the recommendations of three of his predecessors