Tzameret Park, at the corner of Namir Road and Hahalacha Road in the northeast of the city, is seeing buildings go up far faster than the typical slow pace in this country. Alongside the two round towers being built by the Habas Group, five other groups - Aviv Ocif, the Menachemov family, the Nambar family, and the BSR and Canada Israel purchasing groups - have begun work on five more towers of varying heights. Apartments at the bustling construction site are selling at a brisk pace with almost no marketing, and at record prices of $4,000, $6,000 and even $10,000 per square meter - over $1 million per apartment.

Tzameret Park has attracted more than a few well-known business tycoons and famous personalities such as Benny Steinmetz, Yitzhak Peterburg, Ilan Ben Dov, Eyal Yona, the Sharatzky family and Eli Yatzpan. The plans for the project Park resemble residential models more commonly found in New York and London. There will be 12 residential towers on 18 percent of the land, with the remainder to be developed as wide boulevards, lawns and public parks. Until five years ago, the tract stood empty, and no one back then believed in the potential hidden in one of the last tracts of land in Tel Aviv.

The first to gamble on this area was the Habas family, who purchased their first piece of land in Tzameret Park back in 1993. Habas decided to invite Philippe Starck, an internationally renowned architect, who has designed several residential towers under the YOO brand. Habas' gamble paid off and the park's fortunes received a major boost that Habas was able to translate into higher prices. Whereas the average price per square meter when marketing began was $4,500 per square meter, with penthouses selling for up to $7,000 per square meter, today's average price is $8,000, with penthouses at $12,000.

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Thanks to Habas' success, other purchasing groups of developers and individuals decided to buy plots of land in the park about 18 months ago and are planning to build their own skyscrapers. The group organized by BSR has begun work on a 40-story tower that will have 177 apartments. These are being marketed at the lowest average price of all the parks housing units - $3,800 per square meter. BSR's project, called Manhattan, has sold apartments ranging from two to five rooms, and some penthouses.

"Only 10 foreign residents have purchased apartments through the group. All the other buyers are Israelis," says Nachshon Kiviti of BSR. "Most bought the apartments for residences and not for investment, which shows their great faith in the project and in Tzameret Park." The group organized by Canada Israel is building the tallest tower of all - 47 stories. Here too apartment prices are very reasonable, at $4,000 per square meter, which is quite impressive considering the height of the tower. The NAM Tower project, being built by the Nambar family of Los Angeles, has so far sold 42 apartments of the planned 114. Still, marketing for this project began just a few months ago. The average price per square meter - $5,800 - is considered the second highest, next to the YOO tower. Here too some 25 percent of the buyers are foreign residents.

"I think they are attracted by the facilities," says Avi Gruber, the project's marketing vice president. "Our project will have three public swimming pools and five private ones, which none of the other projects have. The tower will be built in the style of a five-star deluxe hotel. Some of the foreign residents are Israelis currently living abroad, but who are interested in returning in the next few years. The project will be ready in three years, which is suitable for them. Aviv Ocif's project is different than the others. The Aviv BaTzameret tower will have 120 apartments in a 30-story structure.

"Unlike the others," says Netta Saban at Aviv Ocif, "we chose an Israeli name because we are an Israeli developer and contractor that operates in Israel and believes in the Israeli market." So far, about half the apartments in this project have been sold, at an average price of $5,500 per square meter, and the ratio of foreign residents among the buyers is just 5 percent. One feature that the company is stressing is that each apartment ill have a 25-square meter balcony, something that Israelis love.

Not lowering prices

When the purchasing groups first entered the park, with members paying $3,800 to $4,000 per square meter, many in the real estate sector felt Habas would have to compromise on his prices. Habas, however, did not get excited and continued charging prices about 40 percent higher than the other projects - and continued to sell. The group even bought additional land in the area so that in all 30 percent of the apartments in Tzameret Park will be built by Habas. The company would not disclose exactly how many apartments have been sold so far, but estimates are that almost the entire first tower has been sold, and that about half the apartments in the second tower have been marketed. Sources in the real estate industry also estimate that about 25 percent of the buyers are foreign residents.

"At first, foreign residents were buying apartments in Israel so they would have an apartment in Israel for investment or vacation purposes. Now, thanks to the large sums Diaspora Jews have invested in Israel, they are looking for apartments to live in so they can follow their investments up close," says Kfir Zohar of Anglo-Saxon Tel Aviv, which is marketing the ONE project, being built by the Menachemov diamond family. That project, going up on land purchased by the family just over five years ago, has so far sold about 65 apartments at an average price of $5,000 per square meter. The ONE project is identified more than any other project with foreign residents, whom Zohar estimates have bought about half the apartments. "All the apartments from the eighth floor up face the sea," says Zohar, "which is always a drawing card for foreign residents, while most of the other projects have many apartments that do not face the sea, or other towers that block their view."

The Menachemov brothers have also taken advantage of their connections in the diamond trade, and have attracted many people from the Israeli and overseas diamond and jewelry industry. "This place is also enticing thanks to its proximity to the Diamond Exchange," says Zohar. Like many other American trends, Tzameret Park's concept is gaining a following in Israel. Still, marketing people say there is a problem of too many foreign residents. Although in the short term this greatly speeds up the marketing of the apartments, many Israelis shy away from buying flats in a tower with too high a ratio of foreign residents whom they do not know. The long-term question is whether this concept is desirable, and how it will blend with its environment, particularly with respect to traffic. This question will be answered in the coming years, when the projects become occupied one after the other.