A “Globes” investigation has revealed that the round tower of the Azrieli Center has been occupied without management having obtained a Form 4, (the permit required for hooking up to the water, electricity, and telephone infrastructures), as legally required. The local planning and building committee is entitled to grant permission only if the developer has met all the building permit terms.
The main stipulation in the municipal building plan for the Azrieli or Shalom Center states that a construction completion document will be granted for no more than 50,000 sq.m. until the Kaplan-Petah Tikva Road interchange is completed. The limitation is due to concern over the effect of the project on traffic in the interchange itself and the surrounding area. The Ministry of Transport supported the transportation clause and also included it in the project’s building permit.
The first stage of the project includes the shopping mall and most of the triangular tower. In constructing the round tower, developer David Azrieli arrived at a situation wherein 13,000 sq.m. of the triangular tower and 46,000 sq.m. of the round tower are considered to constitute the second or even later stage of project. Under the municipal building plan and the building permit, these stages cannot be occupied until construction of the interchange is completed. The interchange will be completed in early 2004 at best, and delaying occupancy of the second stage until then will cost Azrieli $50 million in rent.
Since Ron Huldai became Mayor of Tel Aviv in late 1999, Azrieli and Canit Hashalom Investments general manager Menachem Einan have exerted pressure on the Tel Aviv municipality and the Ministry of Transport to permit occupancy of the round tower without changing the municipal building plan. The process of changing the municipal building plan is liable to take several years.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on July 15, 2001