Leumi lends Taic NIS 1.2b for David Promenade project

Bank Leumi recently signed an agreement with hotelier Henry Taic for the financing of the David Promenade Towers project that Taic is constructing opposite the Opera Tower, close to Tel Aviv's beachfront.

Under the agreement, Bank Leumi will finance the project to the tune of NIS 1.2 billion, covering the cost of construction and the guarantees to buyers of apartments in it. Taic and Bank Leumi CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach celebrated the signing of the agreement with a cake in the shape of the project.

Tel Aviv beachfront flat prices soar to new heights

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, an oft-heard claim was that while some of the mega-wealthy were hurt by the crisis, many came out of it financially stronger. One place to find backing for this claim is to look at what is possibly the most expensive strip of real estate in Israel - the kilometer-long stretch of central Tel Aviv's Mediterranean shoreline, spanning from the Dan Hotel near Tel Aviv Marina to the shell of the Dolphinarium discotheque in the south. By this measure, the rich are certainly richer. The total value of apartment sales in the area jumped to NIS 444 million in 2012, from NIS 270 million in 2010. In the first half of this year, the volume reached NIS 340 million, and real estate experts say it will reach between NIS 500 million to 600 million for all of 2014.

The main reason behind the increased volume is that more luxury apartments have come online in recent years, says Noam Dzialdow, CEO of the luxury realtor Neot Shiran. “Along the Tel Aviv shoreline, the market is almost always influenced by supply and not demand. In a market so small in terms of supply, everything that goes on sale is sold,” he says. Traditionally, the number of new developments that can be built has been constrained. The general public - the ones who don’t aspire to a seaside penthouse but simply a day at the beach - fight to ensure access and unobstructed views. Most of the original construction on streets closest to the beach are low-rise buildings, built on small parcels of land. Developers typically have to buy out multiple property owners to amass enough land to build a new project, a process that can take so many years that the building never gets off the ground.

Flat in Herbert Samuel project sold for NIS 47m

Days after we heard of the most expensive flat transaction ever in Israel (on a price per sqm basis), we learn that Ofer Investments Ltd. has sold an apartment in its Herbert Samuel project in Tel Aviv for NIS 47 million ($13 million) to businessman Gabriel Tamman. The 400-square meter apartment with a 60-square meter balcony is on the building's 19th floor, just below the penthouses. The sale was made at NIS 102,000 per square meter which translates to almost $29,000 per square meter. While this price is well below the record obtained by David Promenade Residences earlier this month at $37,000 per sqm, it's still way above the average price that similar flats have fetched recently. Especially if we keep in mind that the apartment was bought in shell condition, and that the buyer will have to make substantial investment in interior design.

David Promenade flat sold for record price per sqm

A 612 square meter flat with four private parking spaces on the 17th floor of Henry Taic's David Promenade Residences on Hayarkon Street has been sold for NIS 81.46 million, i.e roughly $23 million. According to the Israel Tax Authority, the purchase was made just over a month ago. That represents a record price for an apartment in Israel, at NIS 133,100 (or $37,000) per square meter. For the sake of comparison, for the price of this apartment it would have been possible to buy 68 apartments at the average price of NIS 1.2 million in the first quarter of 2013, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The seafront David Promenade Residences comprises two high-rises on an eight-dunam (two acre) lot between Hayarkon Street and Herbert Samuel Street, right next to the famous Opera tower. One 26-storey high rise is for residences and the second will be a hotel managed by the luxury Swiss Kempinski chain. The residential building will have just 60 apartments, compared with the original plan of 96 apartments. The average price of previous deals in the project is NIS 65,000 per square meter.

Construction to finally start at David Promenade

Henry Taic has begun construction of the David Promenade Residences project on Tel Aviv's seafront, ten years after buying the land and years after Taic announced the project. The two building project is being built on an eight-dunam (two-acre) lot between Herbert Samuel Street, Hayarkon Street and Trumpeldor Street, right next to the Opera tower. Each building will have 26 floors; one building will have 60 apartments, and the other will be a hotel managed by Swiss chain Kempinski AG.

Henry Taic's 600-room hotel on Hayarkon approved

The Tel Aviv Local Planning and Building Committee today approved 820 new hotel rooms in Tel Aviv. This includes a 600 room hotel which will be built by businessman Henry Taic in Hayarkon Street, and a 220 room hotel as part of the conversion of the Lev Tel Aviv police station in Dizengoff Street into a hotel and residential project.

Taic's Nahal Group plans on building the Forum Palace Hotel which will comprise two 17 floor buildings in the excavated land where the old Sheraton hotel was once located. In addition to the 600 rooms above ground, the hotel will have banqueting halls, restaurants, cafes and service areas as well as a two floor underground car park.

Taic's Nahal Group is also building Israel's first Kempinski Hotel as part of the David Promenade Residences on Herbert Samuel Street at an investment of NIS 200 million as well as the first Waldorf Astoria just north of the Hilton hotel.

Source Globes

Dolphinarium to be razed at last

The seaside space occupied by the neglected remains of the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium will be developed into a new boardwalk, the city decided yesterday. The Tel Aviv Planning and Building Council reapproved the plan to renovate the site into a public space but the city will need to buy out an 18.5-dunam area from a private lease-holder, Yossi Buchman.

In exchange, Buchman will get a 12-dunam area near the Hassan Bek Mosque on Hayarkon Street, on which he can build two residential towers and a hotel: 48,000 square meters in total built-up area, according to approved rights for the spot. Buchman is being asked to pay 31.5% of the difference in value between the land by the mosque and the land on which the remains of the Dolphinarium are situated. An appraisal dating from 2008 priced the land by Hassan Bek at NIS 500 million, while the value of the Dolphinarium land was priced at NIS 80 million. Buchman will have to pony up more than NIS 120 million, not including betterment tax.

The plan to develop the defunct Dolphinarium has been held up for more than 10 years, in part because the municipality, Buchman and the Israel Lands Administration couldn't agree on money issues. As similar plan won approval in 2002, but was torpedoed by continued haggling. Observers in the real estate sector think it may take around two years for the land deal to go through. During that time the city will continue to negotiate with Buchman over evacuating and razing the Dolphinarium.

The Dolphinarium began its life as a dolphin-centric aquarium, but was abandoned in the mid-1980s as the company running the venue stumbled into financial trouble. It was acquired by Buchman's company, Sha'ar LeYisrael. The Dolphinarium building consists of one underground story and two above ground, some of which is used for entertainment venues and some of which has been abandoned. The city of Tel Aviv wants to create a continuous boardwalk from Bat Yam to Herzliya. The Dolphinarium building was the only obstacle after certain buildings belonging to the Gordon Swimming Pool and the Reading Power Station were razed. Peer Weisner, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and acting chairman of the local Planning and Building Committee, said he opposes the deal. "The city of Tel Aviv should revert to its previous resolution and expropriate the land from [Buchman]," Weisner said.

The Dolphinarium has an infamous reputation in Israel, after a suicide bomber attacked a line of party-goers outside a club there on June 1, 2001, killing 21 and injuring 132. Most of the casualties were immigrant teenagers from the former Soviet Union.

Source The Marker

Henry Taic to open yet another hotel in Tel Aviv

After the David Intercontinental and the upcoming Kempinski, Henry Taic is now negotiating with Tel Aviv municipality to open his third hotel on the Tayelet under the Waldorf Astoria brand, right next to the Hilton hotel in Tel Aviv.

The chain's first hotel will be opened by the Canadian Reichman family in 2011 in Jerusalem, opposite businessman Alfred Akirov's Mamilla Hotel, at a total investment of $100 million. It is expected to be Israel's most luxurious hotel. Developer Henry Taic plans to build the second Waldorf Astoria Hotel on the area north of the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel, which includes its parking lot and gas station. The new hotel will be integrated into the activity of the historic hotel located near Independence Park.

According to Architect Moshe Zur, who is conducting the negotiations with the Tel Aviv Municipality, it is still unclear home many floors or rooms the hotel will have and whether it will include vacation flats. Taic confirmed the existence of construction plans near the Hilton, adding that it would be a long process. In any event, the new hotel's location is not expected to block the Hilton guests' view.

Two Waldorf Astoria hotels in Israel will expand the country's five-star deluxe hotel industry, which includes the two Ritz hotels being built in the Herzliya Marina and on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard and the Four Seasons Hotel planned in Jerusalem's German Colony.

The Jerusalem hotel, being built by the Hilton corporation and the IPC Jerusalem company within the historical Palace hotel, is located on the corner of King David and Agron Streets – short walking distance from the Old City – and will include 220 rooms and suites and 30 residential apartments. Waldorf Astoria Collection currently has five hotels, four of them in the United States. The Jerusalem hotel will be the second one located outside the US after the hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Source Yedioth Ahronoth

Tel Aviv Master Plan

The Tel Aviv skyline is due for some big change in the coming years. You can see from this simulation how the landscape will change: existing building are in blue and new ones are in purple. The map which shows the south of Tel Aviv includes such new developments as the White City Residence, the Rothschild One or the David Promenade.

More details on the Tel Aviv master plan can be found here and there.

Henry Taic to open Israel's first Kempinski hotel

Henry Taic plans to build the first Kempinski Hotel in Israel as part of the David Promenade Residences under construction on Tel Aviv's seafront.

Taic's company, Nahal Group, signed an agreement with Kempinski Hotels AG last week to establish a luxury hotel on half the eight-dunam (two-acre) lot owned by Nahal on Herbert Samuel Street in Tel Aviv near the US Embassy. The Kempinski Tel Aviv Hotel will have 220 rooms, including 50 suites, on 23 floors. It is due to open in 2013.

The Kempinski Tel Aviv Hotel will be attached by glass cube to the 25-storey David Promenade Residences, which will have 60-70 luxury apartments ranging in size from 100 square meters to 1,000-square meter duplexes. Residents will have use of the hotel's facilities. Nahal owns the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, the Meridien Dead Sea Hotel, and Grand Court Hotel Jerusalem. Kempinski Hotels was founded in 1897. The luxury European chain how has 60 hotels worldwide, with 43 more planned for Europe and Asia.

Source Globes

A new high rise project on the tayelet

Yet more high-rises with luxury apartments will be sprouting up on the Tel Aviv beachfront. The developer is Henry Taic, who also owns the David Intercontinental hotel group. The project, called David Promenade Residences, envisions two towers connected by a ground-level glass structure. One of the towers is to be 25 stories tall and have about 70 apartments. The final number is flexible because some potential buyers are thinking about snapping up more than one apartment and creating large homes. One buyer is in talks to buy six apartments, the company said.

The building next door, also 25 stories, is slated to be a hotel. The apartments will be big, from 100 square meters to 1,000 square meters in the case of the most expensive duplexes. Each apartment will have a porch of up to 12 square meters. The price will probably range from NIS 55,000 to NIS 70,000 per square meter.

At a press conference presenting the concept last week, representatives of Taic said the hotel won't block the sea view from the apartments' porches because they won't be built precisely in parallel. Entrance to the residential tower will be from Hayarkon Street.

Dwellers in the residential tower can receive services from the hotel, which the Taic group intends to call the David Hotel. They will have access to the swimming pool and spa, as well as room service, for instance. The residents will also be able to reach the hotel through an underground parking lot, say the developers.

The Taic group estimates that the investment will run at NIS 750 million. The project is being designed by the Tel Aviv-based firm Feigin Architecture, which also designed the Royal Beach Hotel and Princess Hotel in Eilat, as well as the King David residential high-rise on Hayarkon Street.

Actually, the Taic group has yet to obtain the requisite permits to develop the project, but company representatives told the press conference that they expect the paperwork to be completed in a matter of weeks. Occupancy is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2013.

Taic, who lives in Israel, says his family has owned the land for decades. It had refrained from developing the site because it had been occupied by protected tenants. He's been thinking about this project since around 2000, Taic told reporters, and the planning process took seven years. As for the name David, it's in memory of his father David Taic.

Source Haaretz