Penthouses in White City Residence officially on sale

After a soft launch that lasted almost a year, penthouses in White City Residence are now officially on the market. One such penthouse (there are 7 of them) which has been put on sale for NIS 100m occupies 360 m² of the 29th floor and features a 120-m² terrace. That's more than $55,000 per square meter if you account for the terrace at 50% if its surface like it's the market practice.

It will be decorated and accessorised by the Armani studio. White City Residence is located on Yitzhak Elkhanan St. at the edge of the Neve Tzedek neighbourhood, adjacent to Rothschild Ave. Until several years ago, Yitzhak Elkhanan St. near the Carmel Market was considered a neglected area with a relatively low real estate value. But over the last decade, the face of the neighbourhood has changed to the point that it now boasts many luxury developments such as this 161-apartment project. In practice, most of the buyers purchased multiple apartments and connected them, therefore, the current number of apartments totals about 95.

Nakash brothers to build another hotel on the 'tayelet'

Just a month after having announced that they plan to turn part of the Opera tower into a boutique hotel, the Nakash brothers announced that they are part of a partnership that has purchased a plot one block away from Opera building.

And they intend to build there yet another sea front luxury hotel, right on the Herbert Samuel promenade, the famous Tel Aviv 'tayelet'.

Minrav Projects, controlled by Avraham Kuznitsky, and a company controlled by the Nakash brothers and real estate agent Raz Oded have signed an agreement to establish an equal partnership to acquire 75% of a plot on Hayarkon Street for NIS 97 million. The 12-dunam (three-acre) site, located between Herbert Samuel, Hayarkon, Geula, and Yona Hanavi streets, is owned by developer Gabi Elbaz, whose personal wealth totals NIS 145.5 million.

Elbaz will retain 25% of the plot. The lot includes 3,500 square meters in construction rights, and the companies plan to promote a new 7,500-square meter urban building plan that will include residences and hotels as part of a luxury project. Minrav is focusing on the residential part of the project, while the Nakash brothers will concentrate on the hotel part. The companies have also agreed with Mizrahi Tefahot Bank on finance for the project.

Armani Synagogue in White City Residence

Making good on their promise, the developers of White City Residence are now putting the finishing touches on the interior design of the reception area, bar, meeting rooms, gym, pool and Spa.

Fitted with high end furniture from Armani Casa, the space now looks very much like the marketing brochures and CGI animations that were used to sell the property in the first place.

Even the synagogue that was built on the ground floor of the tower exhibits many of those characteristic Armani Casa accents.

While the synagogue was inaugurated in early January in presence Tel Aviv Rabbi, Rabbi Lau, the pool and spa have yet to open formally however. Still with an increasing number of residents starting to move in, the "under construction" feel of the previous months has now all but disappeared.

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White City Residence under the rain

As 2015 comes to an end, delivery of the flats in White City Residence is picking up the pace. Forty flats have now been delivered to owners and eight tenants are actually living in the building already. Armani furniture for the lobby arrives next week, the synagogue opens mid January and the spa which includes an open pool, a hamam and a sauna, will be ready by the end of the month.

After a delay of almost two years, residents are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and most of them agree that the wait was well worth it.



And if you need a reminder of the lengthy build process, just take a look at the following videos...

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.

White City Residence to add another 8 floors?

Just months away from the scheduled delivery of White City Residence to its future residents, Zemach Hammerman and Eurocom just received approval from the Planning Commission of Tel Aviv for an additional 8 floors that would bring the tower to a total of 38 floors and 157 appartements.

In addition, the Commission revoked the duties imposed by the municipality to the promoters, such as the road widening, the construction of a kindergarten and a synagogue, as well as the relocation of the Orthodox girls' school Ohel Jakob to Bnei Brak.

Originally the tower was supposed to be a 30-story building and the developers seeked to increase it to 41 floors. They were then given the option to increase the tower to 38 floors in exchange for public duties. But that option was subsequently cancelled following opposition from Neve Tzedek residents.

The developer is now looking at its options as adding the additional floors after the penthouses have already been built will add further costs and delays to the delivery along with significant penalties.

UPDATE: It just took a few days for the Neve Tzedek residents association to appeal the court decision. This drama is therefore far from over. To be continued...

Source The Maker

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.

60 sm flat goes for 4.7m in White City Residence

An artist from New Zealand who fell in love with Neve Tzedek just purchased a 60 square meter flat on the 16th floor of luxury residential tower White City Residence for a cool NIS 4.7m ($1.35m). That puts the price per square metre for the apartment at NIS 78,000 per square meter (ie. $22,000 per sm). No less interesting is the fact that the purchaser asked that the apartment be designed without walls in order to accentuate the sea view and the feeling of space. Only the bathroom will have walls facing the sea but those will be transparent!

According to Ran Ben Avraham, vice president of marketing ZMH, the constructor of the tower, "the buyer first came to Israel for a simple visit and fell in love with Neve Tzedek neighbourhood. She heard about the project and decided to buy a flat. Today, very few apartments, except for some very expensive penthouses, can enjoy such views of the city and the sea along with a design from Giorgio Armani".

שנה טובה ומתוקה לכולם

Getting there...

Hat tip to Project-TLV

White City Residence almost sold out

Sales in White City Residence situated north of Neve Tzedek have now reached NIS 770 million. That represents 137 flats or 84% of the total. Ever since construction started, the project run by ZMH Hammerman, Eurocom and the Bruner family has been at the center of a public debate about high-rise construction in the neighborhood.

A petition filed two years ago by the residents of Neve Tzedek delayed the grant of additional building rights for eight stories and in January the District Court dismissed the addition altogether. According to Ran Ben Avraham, vice president of marketing at ZMH Hammerman, the developers decided not to continue the fight. "Most of the project is sold and we have to eventually deliver the apartments to their owners" Ben Avraham said.

Latest transactions in White City Residence

Prices continue to edge up in White City Residence with the price per square meter now reaching $18,000 for higher floors.

Those changes are not isolated to that building and are worrying the Bank of Israel that has just decided to further tighten rules for mortgages. Going forward, and in order to prevent a real estate bubble from developing, borrowing will be capped as follows:

• 75% LTV for the first purchase
• 70% LTV when purchasing of a bigger property and selling the first one
• 50% LTV for the purchase a second property within the same family

White City website turned into video landing page

The White City Residence project has refreshed their website and turned it into a single flash video landing page. The new video released a few months back is now the only content on the site. The menu is made of bookmarks from the video. And gone are the live webcam links. No description of the project either other than the promotional video. Focus is clearly on collecting lead details for the final sales push.

Go check the new site at www.white-city.net.

A room with a view...

As the White City Residence project continues to rise, and as the developer still awaits for the final authorization to build floors 30 to 37, here are some pictures taken from the 15th floor of the tower and from apartments types A, B and C.

Enjoy the view of Neve Tzedek, Yaffo and the sea!

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White City Residence January Update

The White City Residence Tower, now up to floor 15, continues to go up, with Shalom tower in the backgroud and the recently complete Rothschild Ehad on the right.

Check the slideshow below for more pictures of the work in progress...

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White City Residence starting to take shape

As White City Residence reaches floor 15, and as the white finish is being applied to the structure a new marketing video has now appeared.

Enjoy!

Hat tip (again) Tel Aviv Project.

Simulation of Rothschild Blvd extension to the sea

Sales slowdown in White City Residence

The Bruner Brothers, Eurocom and ZMH Hammerman sold in the second quarter of 2011 just nine apartments in the White City Residence tower.Compared to the 105 homes sold in the first quarter of 2011 this represents a significant slowdown. Since the project has about 170 apartments, a possible reason for that sharp decline in sales could well be that the inventory is running out and that almost all the apartments are now sold. According to a source with the developer, 85% of the apartments available for sale have now been sold. Local authorities recently approved the addition of 10 floors which will bring the total number of floors to 40. Those extra floors have not been put on the market yet however.

The Bruner Brothers from Belgium own 50% of the project, Eurocom and ZMH Hammerman holding the remaining 25% each. The apartments sold in the second quarter fetched 15% more on average than those of the first quarter, but it would be wrong to draw overall market conclusions based on those transactions since those properties being on higher floors, they would have commended higher prices anyway.

Source News1

White City Residence Update

A quick update with a few pictures taken earlier this month from the construction site....

Hat tip Kerem Israel.

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10 Herbert Samuel starting to sell

With rumors of the market slowing down, Ofer investments has started marketing the Ofer tower also known as 10 Herbert Samuel to outsiders including foreign buyers. The web site is now up at www.10hs.co.il and it is very nicely done, especially compared to the one of  White City Residence which even in version 2 is still quite poor.

With just 21 stories the building offers 41 apartments, two per floor, with the option of purchasing adjoining apartments to own the entire floor. All apartments, including the 7 lofts and the penthouse on the 21st floor have a sea view terrace and are designed for maximum interior flexibility with high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows.

Apartments are 200 sqm each not including the 31 sqm terrace and purchasing two adjoining apartments can provide with an amazing full floor home of 400sqm with a 62sqm terrace. The building offers also 7 lofts of 188 sqm each with a 27 sqm porch facing the sea and a 24 sqm back garden. Lastly he two top floors offer an enormous 728 sqm penthouse overlooking the Mediterranean with a 104 sqm terrace. But this one was snapped by Eyal Ofer for a cool $30 million last summer.

The regular apartments start at just NIS13 million, i.e. $3.8 million. Still, at more than $19,000 per sqm, they are not for the faint of heart! But if you are still interested, or if you are just curious, just check the video below:

More pictures from White City Residence

Just check the slideshow below for more pictures of White City Residence as well as the other skyscrapers going up in the neighbourhood.

Hat tip Ran Moneta.

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