The Harel Local Planning and Building Commission, headed by Ruth Schwartz Hanoch, recently approved a request for a building permit for a 260-room hotel in Mevasseret Zion. The hotel will be built on a 13.2-dunam (3.3-acre) lot, and will contain 31,500 square metersof built-up space, including a conference hall and a spa with indoor and outdoor swimming pools.
The North Coast Hotels company is the developer for the project, which will be built by veteran Jerusalem contractor Shlomo Dahouki. Early this year, "Globes" reported that Dahouki had acquired from Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) its call center building on Hamered Street in Tel Aviv facing the seafront for NIS 41 million. Dahouki, who lives in Mevasseret Zion, also owns 6% of Zerah Oil And Gas Explorations LP (TASE: ZRAH).
The Commission rejected the objections, and approved the project, subject to approval from the Ministry of Transport Traffic Supervisor, as required by the instructions for the plan. The project, which is planned on the hillsides of the Harel shopping mall and the Nof Heharim neighborhood, overlooks forests and the Arza wadi.
Objections were submitted to the plan by residents of the Nof Heharim neighborhood near the project, who are concerned mainly about the transportation consequences of the hotel. The Commission, however, approved a building permit on the basis of a building plan approved in August 2015. The project also has a digging permit granted following the building permit. In its decision, the Commission ruled that the request for the permit was derived from a valid plan, and that the condition for the permit will be authorization from the Traffic Supervisor, as required in the plan applying to the land.
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) also filed an objection concerning the access road to the forest and drainage from the site, but the Commission rejected this objection, ruling, however, that coordination with JNF should be completed as a condition for Form 4. The hotel is planned to obtain a five-star rating under the Ministry of Tourism standards.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 31, 2015
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