An 80-story office tower, which would be the tallest building in Israel, is the most prominent feature of a major real estate development planned for the area northeast of the Defense Ministry’s Kirya compound in the center of Tel Aviv. The proposed project is to include 2,500 housing units in an area around what is now home to the Tel Aviv Savidor train station north of Arlozorov Street, officials involved in the project said yesterday.
The development has the approval of the Tel Aviv Municipality, Finance Ministry and Israel Lands Administration. The most complicated of the plans involves a 390-dunam (97-acre) parcel dubbed the 2000 Complex (Mitkham 2000 in Hebrew) where the borders of Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Givatayim meet. A transportation hub is planned for the site, to be built over the Ayalon Freeway. The project would join Israel Railways train service along with two light rail lines, bus and taxi service.
About 230 dunams at the site are owned by the state, with the Tel Aviv Municipality owning the rest of the land. The plan also calls for an additional 1,300 units in the nearby Park Tzameret, which will expand towards the south.
According to Gili Tesler, an Israel Lands Administration planner for the Tel Aviv district, detailed plans for the residential complex are expected to be approved within three years, and ground will be broken on construction of the transportation hub within five years.
The 80-story office tower is planned for a 40-dunam plot between Begin Road and Shaul Hamelech Boulevard. It will be joined by three 45-story towers, one of which will contain offices and the other two apartments. A total of 540 units are planned for the two residential towers. Also planned for an 11-dunam plot in the Kirya area is a 278-unit residential project at the corner of Kaplan and Da Vinci streets.
The two projects were preceded by the Defense Ministry’s agreement to cede land it controls to the Israel Lands Administration. In addition, a 23,500-square- meter mixed-use project at a site on Dubnov Street is on the drawing board.
The state has agreed to direct a portion of its take from the sale of land to build light rail lines underground along Ibn Gvirol Street, to cover over portions of the Ayalon Freeway, and to relocate the Savidor central train station to the transportation hub over the freeway.