Home Center continues to lease buildings in all parts of Israel, and has recently leased buildings in Jerusalem and Nazareth, covering a total area of 6,100 sq. m. The company is negotiating to lease another building, and it will have 15 branches by the end of 1997.
Home Center is about a contract for leasing the 4,600 sq. m. Adi-Paz factory building in the Talpiot Industrial Zone, Jerusalem. The factory is owned by the family of Moshe Seraf. Home Center will pay $15 per sq. m. per month, index linked, under a five year contract, with an option for a further five years.
Seraf at first demanded $17 per sq. m. per month, and Home Center offered $13. The building is in good condition and there will be no need for a large investment in adaptations. Seraf is transferring Adi-Paz production lines to a development town and to Italy. Home Center will shortly open its first Jerusalem branch on the site.
In a second deal , Home Center is today signing a lease on 1,500 sq. m. in Mario Leznik’s shopping mall in Upper Nazareth. The rent is $15 per sq. m. per month, index linked, under a five year contract with an option for a further five years.
A short time ago, Home Center leased 4,000 sq. m. in the Carmelim commercial centre on the outskirts of Haifa for $10 per sq. m. per month, index linked, under a long term lease from the Koor group.
The company is conducting negotiations for leasing another building, in the south of Israel, in order to expand its activity in this region. Once all the above mentioned deals are realised, including the one in southern Israel, the company will have 15 branches. It intends to continue leasing 4-5 buildings a year.
Home Center is 40% owned by a company belonging to Levy Kushnir and Malibu, 20% by Co-Op Blue Square, 14% by Koor, and 26% is owned by the public via the New York Stock Exchange.