Work began this week to revamp Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv. Once the central square in the city, the new configuration seeks to reclaim the location's glory as Tel Aviv's most fashionable landmark.
Dizengoff Square is near the southern end of Dizengoff Street, a fashionable boulevard of outdoor cafes, known in the 1930s as the Champs Elysee of the Middle East. There was even a Hebrew word which came into usage from Dizengoff - Lehizdangef (meaning roughly to stroll aimlessly and see and be seen).
But since the 70s, the street has fallen out of favor. Some blame the Dizengoff Center shopping center opened at the street's southern end and others the elevated nature of Dizengoff Square, which reduces the square in size.
The Agam fire and water fountain, which has been the centerpiece of the square has now been dismantled and removed so that the elevated section can be bulldozed down. It will be placed temporarily near the Reading power station and returned towards the end of 2017, when the underground sewage, water, electricity and communications infrastructures have been renewed, and a new spacious square built replete with wide open green spaces. There will be new lighting, a new road configuration, and sidewalks and bicycle paths.
The work, to be completed within 12 months, will cost an estimated NIS 60 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2016
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