Gov-Nadlan Rav Kuk has purchased the Rav Kuk lot in the Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv from a company owned by telecom magnate Patrick Drahi for NIS 200 million. The 3,300 square meter lot has building rights for 26 luxury homes in five buildings, some of which will involve renovating and preserving existing buildings, while other will be completely new buildings.
The lot is in the southwestern corner of Neve Tzedek between Mered, Schmerling, Eliezer Rokeach and Ein Yaakov Streets. The lot includes the Rav Kuk synagogue and his former workshop built 120 years ago and several dilapidated buildings held up by steel columns to prevent them collapsing.
Drahi bought the lot seven years ago for NIS 133 million through a foreign company Yeshuati Ltd., controlled by American Jewish businessman Edmund Shamsi.
Architect Gal Merom had drawn up a plan for a company that had previously had an option to buy the lot, which preserved the existing buildings. The planned 26 homes will encompass 6,800 square meters and the largest of the houses will be 400 square meters in size.
In the past few years there has been a legal dispute between Drahi and Shamsi, with a compromise recently reached, "Globes" has learned, that has paved the way for the deal.
These legal complications combined with the major investment required to preserve the buildings has meant that the lot has been sold far more cheaply than other such lots would be worth in central Tel Aviv.
Gov-Nadlan Rav Kuk is a subsidiary of Gov-Nadlan, owned by businessman Shamar Gov, together with Almogim, who said that a precondition for the deal was the legal settlement between Drahi and Shamsi.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 26, 2021
Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021