Nahalat Binyamin revival gaining traction

The Nahalat Binyamin pedestrian mall with its arts and crafts market is located in central Tel Aviv, several hundred meters from Rothschild Boulevard, near the White City and close to the prestigious homes in Neve Zedek. The street has an unusual concentration of unique architecture. It nevertheless seems, however, that the place is stuck in a time warp. The public space is neglected and rather dirty, the buildings are in a poor physical state, the backyards look like junkyards, and the businesses are outdated. Nevertheless, several new projects were completed this year, and marketing recently began of apartments in HaAmudim House at the intersection of Rambam and Tavor Streets.

The mall area drew quite a lot of public attention in 2001, when developer Ruth Speiser, who was born in the 1950s as a rent-controlled tenant in the house at the intersection of Rambam and Tavor Streets and slowly accumulated properties in the area, announced her intention of setting up a "quarter" that would include a boutique hotel and luxury apartment buildings. Speiser's ideal was innovative, because it mentioned for the first time shared management of the street. The plan included preservation and reconstruction of all the buildings marked for preservation with additional construction, demolishing buildings in the area not marked for preservation, and building new residential buildings in their places.

According to this plan, commercial space and an underground parking lot with 1,500 parking spaces would be built. One of the plan's interesting ideas was developing backyards and creating immediate access to Allenby Street. "A living dream," she told "Globes" in early 2004, "is rejuvenating the home and street on which you were born."

Not much has happened in the area in the 16 years since the heralded launch of the "quarter" plan. The large debts troubled the developers, the banks lost patience, and the buildings that Speiser and Lehi bought moved from hand to hand. In 2007, Nicholas Berggruen acquired six buildings (Michael Chernoy was previously in negotiations that did not succeed). The buildings were sold to YH Dimri Construction & Development Ltd in 2010, which sold Tamar House to French investor Gerard Bentolila for NIS 35 million in 2012. On June 9, Dimri reported that it had signed an option agreement (not for the first time) to sell three more properties on the street: one at 18 Rambam Street, one at 12-16 Rambam Street, and one at 44 Hatavor Street.

Founders of Mobileye move into Meyer on Rostchild

Amnon Shashua chairman of the extraordinarily successful Mobileye company and Ziv Aviram, its CEO have snatched 2 extensive flats in the recently completed Meier on Rothschild.

Amnon spent NIS 80m ($21m) for the penthouse spanning floors 41 and 42 while his co-founder went so a more modest 300sqm flat on the 28th floor for just NIS 30m ($8m). The penthouse extends over 600 sqm, has 100 sqm of terraces overlooking the city and Mediterranean sea and has its own swimming pool and sauna.

In 2012, Eyal Waldman, the CEO of Mellanox had made the news after purchasing a flat on the 31th floor for NIS 19m ($5m). The founder of social gaming company Diwip, Yaniv Gamzo, also bought 2 flats in the tower, one that he rents and the other that he lives into.

You can check the view from the penthouse in the video below:



Source Calcalist

Fattal opens super luxury Rothschild 22 hotel

The highly anticipated Rothschild 22 Hotel has just opened its doors, and quickly gained the reputation as one of Tel Aviv’s most coveted luxury hotels. Designed by esteemed architect Ari Shaltiel, the newly designed space embodies the epitome of urban design and sophistication. The hotel’s contemporary interior, and location in the city’s financial and cultural center, makes it an obvious choice for even the most discerning of travellers. Located on the city’s infamous thoroughfare, Rothschild Boulevard, the hotel is just steps from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, as well as the city’s most esteemed cultural institutions, including the Habima Theater and the city’s most prestigious museums. Its location in the heart of UNESCO’s designated ‘White City’ puts Rothschild 22 within reach of city’s award winning restaurants and shops.

Rothschild 22 offers various amenities including its renowned restaurant, Gallery 22, where guests have the option of enjoying a good breakfast. The open kitchen allows guests to view the chefs in action, as they use market ingredients to create modern interpretations of classic Israeli cuisine. Perfect for business meetings and professional gatherings, Rothschild 22’s superior conference rooms provide a well-equipped and contemporary space for any type of professional engagement, or enjoying a drink prior to an exciting Tel Aviv night.

As part of the lauch, Telavivian has teamed up with Rothschild 22 and created a city guide with the top 22 restaurants, bars, galleries and cafes near Rothschild Boulevard. Discover the guide at http://www.hotel-rothschild22.com/blog-en.

Source Telavivian

Birth of a new avenue in Tel Aviv

More than 100 years after the creation of the first avenue in Tel Aviv, trees were planted on the portion of Yitzhak Elhanan Street that was rebuilt in front the new White City Residence. There has been many discussions as to the what the final look should be but it seems that no decision has been made yet. The idea is to have a new avenue linking Rothschild boulevard to the sea and therefore finishing the Rainbow starting at Kikar Atarim (Ben Gurion, Chen, Rothschild and then Yitzhak Elhanan).

While it seems that the redevelopment of that portion of the avenue is an interim move, it is still a welcome development. We will probably have to wait until the Dolphinarium project goes ahead for good until we know more.

Jaffa revival continues

Until just a few years ago, only extreme devotees or young people moved to Jaffa. The people who bought property deep inside the city – other than those who were pushed south for financial reasons – were usually bohemian types enchanted by the sandstone, the muezzin's call and the sound of the waves. Once they arrived, the radical became the conventional, and Jaffa's north, on the border of Tel Aviv, put on a friendly face for families and couples strolling by. New businesses filled the flea-market area and Yefet Street, and the completion of the boardwalk between Herzliya and the renovated Jaffa Port further increased the traffic. At the same time, residential projects got under way, aimed at people who wanted to enjoy the magical surroundings without the hassle of renovating a property. Some of these new homes were sensitively integrated into the neighborhood; others displaced the population and created enclaves in the city. Most designers wanted their projects to become part of Jaffa's exotic mix and incorporated oriental designs.

Sheinkin Street renovation is now complete

The renovation of Sheinkin Street, the mecca of Tel Aviv style was completed this week, earlier than scheduled, along ith catwalk fashion shows featuring 20 models, music performances, 3D street games and a graffiti wall.

The renovation project began in November 2011, and the total cost is estimated at 30 million. It has a separate bicycle trail connecting the Nahalat Binyamin and Carmel Market with Rothschild Boulevard and Yehuda Halevi Street which is part of the new green road network.

Major changes are a new sewage infrastructure, the renovation and expansion of the pedestrian sidewalks, relocation of Tel-O-fan stations, installation of new illuminated signage and decorative lighting poles, new street furniture and trees on both sides of the street.

Startup Nation now on the map

Michael Eisenberg (Benchmark Capital) set a challenge a few days ago, asking developers from Israel to create a similar map to the one Michael Bloomberg unveiled in NY and that showcases more than 500 local companies based on their location as well as the available jobs within these companies.

Inspired by the NY map, Eisenberg's challenge and probably the promised free wine, one developer has decided to take on the task and created a simple tool to help Israel-based companies quickly add themselves onto the map. There is also a "who's hiring" section where companies can post job openings and that will definitely help job hunters who want to find those hot jobs in Israeli startups.

Amazingly, Ben Lang, who created this map, did it while he had some time off from the army. Hopefully someone will help him take it to the next level because some features are missing: wider map, company search, clickable links, street view, related photos, etc.

Meanwhile, If your company based in Israel, make sure to add it to the list now available at mappedinisrael.com.

Source Go2web20

Meier on Rothschild reaches 12th floor

Meier on Rothschild Tower which is being built on an area of 3.57 acre on the corner of Rothschild Boulevard and Allenby Street has now reached the 12th floor. Apart for the tower, the project also includes retail space.

The tower will include 37 floors built over 6 floors of parking space. On top of the shopping centre that will total 2900 square meters will be a private pool, a SPA and a courtyard. Building was originally approved for 27 stories, but the developer successfully managed to obtain additional building rights for an extra 10 residential floors making the tower 158 meters high from street level.

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Tel Aviv's Silicon Boulevard

Israel is a juggernaut of R&D: 4.5% of its economic output is immediately reinvested, making Israel number one in the world for R&D as a percentage of GDP. The Holy Land is home to R&D departments of some of the world’s most important tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Intel. And since Israel is such a small country - it takes just 50 minutes to drive from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv - it allows startups and established tech companies to choose office space on cost rather than location.

That said, there are clusters of high-tech industry in the town of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, and in Ramat Gan and Ramat Hachayal in the city's northern suburbs. The country has a thriving tech-camp scene. TechAviv, a startup founders' club, has 2,000 members and meets monthly in Tel Aviv, New York, Silicon Valley and Boston, to showcase new work.

But the real buzz can be found in the cafés of Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard. Stretching from Neve Tzedek in the south roughly to midtown, Rothschild is an elegant, treelined avenue popular with pedestrians, cyclists and rollerbladers enjoying the city's almost unending sunshine. On the pedestrian walkway that runs down its centre, a strip of hip, outdoor cafés is home to creative types on their laptops, thanks in no little part to the city's free, widespread Wi-Fi network.

This is why Rothschild Boulevard - also known as the Silicon Boulevard -- has transformed itself into the home of many hot start-ups such as Face.com and Soluto. Some of them do not mind following in the footsteps of ICQ, 5Min, LabPixies and others, who have been scooped up by international tech giants.

Take the Gifts Project, for instance, set up by a handful of young enthusiastic employees sharing a tiny office with a balcony that looks out to Rothschild Boulevard and sports a huge logo of a pink pig. They've just been bought by the world's biggest online store eBay. Others want to strike out on their own. One of them is Soluto, a firm that aims to make computers more user-friendly and crowdsources technical support that helps computer users anywhere in the world, for free. Whatever their strategy, it seems that they are here to make an impact.

Simulation of Rothschild Blvd extension to the sea

New financing options to accelerate light rail build-up

A pending compromise between the Tel Aviv Municipality and the government proposes greatly increasing building rights in the city to 700-800% from 400% in exchange for a subway. The increased building rights would generate hundreds of millions in taxes for the government and would offset the huge additional cost in building the light rail's Green Line as a subway.

The increased building rights will not necessary apply to the area along a 2.5-kilometer stretch of the Green Line's route between Carlebach Street and the northern end of Ibn Gvirol Street. The 24-kilometer Green Line will run from Rishon LeZion in the south to the Yarkon River in north Tel Aviv, and may later be extended to Herzliya. The line was originally planned as an above-ground light rail, which Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai opposes. The Tel Aviv Municipality said, "The lot in the Kirya area, along the Red Line, is also relevant to the initiative."

A source involved with the project said that preliminary estimates suggest that the increased building rights will be sufficient to finance the NIS 1.5-2 billion cost of the Green Line. The line could result in the construction of 25,000-30,000 new apartments in the Large Lot in the Transyarkon area of north Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv Municipality and the Ministry of Finance already agree that the Green Line section between Levinski Street in South Tel Aviv and Carlebach Street would be underground, but they have disagreed for years about the stretch north of Carlebach Street. Officially, the ministry consents only to an above-ground line, and insists that the Tel Aviv Municipality finance the extra cost in full for an underground line. The municipality says that this is not possible.

In addition to the Dan Region Light Rail's Red and Green lines, a Purple Line is in the statutory stages, and four bus rapid transit (BRT) lines are planned. The Tel Aviv Municipality said in response, "The municipality believes that it is very important to build the Green Line, at the same time as the Red Line, as a subway between Levinski Street and the Yarkon River. We believe that maximizing the building rights in the Kirya area can generate the financial sources needed. However, talks are only in the initial stages, and we hope that an agreement can be reached to build the Green Line as quickly as possible."

Source Globes

Tel Aviv light rail project revived

Fifteen years after the project was initiated, the bulldozers are set to begin working at three sites on the Tel Aviv light rail’s Red Line today. Completion date is scheduled for 2017. In contrast to the elaborate cornerstone- laying ceremony 15 years ago in the presence of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu (in his previous term) and then-Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo, today's event is expected to be low-key, possibly in remembrance of the previous embarrassing ceremony.

Next to the Em Hamoshava Interchange in Petah Tikva, in a parking lot by the Sheraton City Plaza hotel in Ramat Gan, and adjacent to Beit Romano in south Tel Aviv, bulldozers will begin digging three 25-meter vertical shafts through which the mining equipment will be lowered to dig out the underground section of the lightrail line. Eight machines are scheduled to dig 10 kilometers of subway tunnels between Jerusalem Boulevard in Jaffa to Geha Interchange at Petah Tikva.

At the same time, there will be a change in personalities at NTA – Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., the government company in charge of the project, after the Finance Ministry revoked Metro Transport Solutions’s (MTS) concession in 2010. Galit Assaf Shenhar, who has served as general manager since Yishay Dotan was ousted in June 2010, will turn over the reins to Yitzhak Zochman, formerly Transportation Ministry deputy director-general for infrastructure development .

Assaf Shenhar, 36, has accompanied the Tel Aviv light-rail project since 1998 when she was a junior worker in the Finance Ministry’s budget department. Since then she has been involved in pushing through approval for the route of the Red Line from Petah Tikva to Bat Yam via Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv. In 2006, after two years as economic adviser to the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office she joined NTA. That year MTS, a consortium of Africa- Israel Investments Ltd., Egged Bus Cooperative, Siemens and Portuguese and Chinese companies won the BOT tender to build and operate the project for 25 years. NTA’s role was secondary: to promote the plan, clear infrastructures on the route and engage in information activities.

Over the years, NTA was criticized for wasting resources and political appointments to its senior executive positions. Most problematic of all was NTA’s relationship with Mesilot, a transportation consultancy firm. In 1998, shortly after its establishment, NTA handed over responsibility for managing the project to Mesilot, which is owned by Ami Metom. Mesilot prepared the tenders to choose a franchisee for the Red Line.

In 2006, the State Comptroller’s Office was harshly critical of the connection between NTA and Mesilot, which was supposed to last for one year but had continued for many years. Over the years, Mesilot had increased the scope of its work substantially, and its workforce had risen from 12 to 70 employees at salaries verbally agreed to with NTA. In total, NTA paid Mesilot more than NIS 300 million, and the work that Mesilot undertook for that huge amount became virtually worthless, after the government decided to nationalize the project. When former MK Michael Ratzon became NTA’s chairman, he was amazed to discover that the government company had no professional capabilities because almost all its staff and data banks were controlled by Mesilot.

In August 2010, the government decided to cancel MTS’s concession agreement, after it failed to gain bank financing for the project. In December 2010, the government nationalized the project and handed it over to NTA. The general manager of a medium-sized company, Shenhar suddenly found herself in one of the most important and prestigious management positions in the public sector. Colleagues in the infrastructures sector raised their eyebrows. “There is no doubt that she is talented,” a person familiar with the matter said about her, “but she comes without any experience in megaprojects or professional knowledge about trains. No private company would dream of letting her manage a NIS 12 billion project. This could only happen in public service.”

Looking back, even Shenhar’s critics admit that she has not done badly in the job. The project is moving forward as planned; more than 20 international tenders were issued in 2011, and the major construction tenders for building stations and digging tunnels will be published at the start of 2012. Project-management company Parsons Brinckerhoff has been hired as a senior consultant, mainly to handle the integration of the various contractors. NTA’s workforce has tripled to 100, and its operating budget has grown to NIS 30m.

Source Jerusalem Post

Tent City on Rothschild Boulevard

After the "cottage cheese revolution" on Facebook which forced the dairy firms to reduce prices or face the wrath of the consumer, a new protest movement has emerged and is camping out on posh Rothschild Boulevard. Young people, some families with children, are protesting against prohibitively high rents which, combined with their low wages, make it impossible to make ends meet. The "new homeless" have jobs, iphones and laptops but not enough disposable income to pay constantly rising rents. "It drives me crazy" said one activist."Half of my wages goes on rent. Add electricity, rates, water, internet and food and there's nothing left," said the mother of a son who was camping out.

In contrast, the reasons for the ongoing housing market crisis are complicated and varied. Unsurprisingly, Daphni Leef, 25, a freelance filmmaker who organized the Rothschild tent city demonstration, and others who joined her have been far more adept at initiating a “revolt over rent” than at offering a solution. Many critics have rightly pointed out that the Rothschild Boulevard activists are naïve to think the average young couple will ever be able to afford to live in the heart of Tel Aviv, the most prime real estate location in the country, no matter what the government does. In fact, numerous steps – all of which relatively longterm – have already been adopted by this government to make housing more available and affordable, perhaps not in Tel Aviv where there is no more state-owned land to be re-zoned for apartments, but in outlying areas.

Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias has pushed to provide more residential projects in central locations such as Modi’in and Herzliya and has also proposed changing tender laws to encourage building contractors to push down the price of land, which often cost NIS 300,000 to NIS 400,000 per housing unit even before construction begins. Bank of Israel Gov. Stanley Fischer, meanwhile, has taken measures to prevent banks from pouring millions into the financing of investments in housing, particularly now that interest rates are low and mortgages are more affordable.

The government could also discourage foreigners from keeping summer apartments vacant most of the year, by taxing them. Another possibility is to add to the NIS 1.3 billion per year already provided to the needy to subsidize housing. The government might even consider providing special incentives to building contractors to make it profitable to build projects designed for long-term rental. With annual rent for an average three-room apartment at 4 percent of the value of the apartment, it makes no economic sense to invest in rental property, though it does make sense for families to rent instead of buy.

In the final analysis, however, grassroots movements such as the cottage cheese uprising or the Rothschild Boulevard tent city illuminate a much deeper socioeconomic malaise: a growing numbers of Israelis are unable to pay their expenses.

Yitzhak Elhanan Street widening project