Eilat's Kings City to become business, entertainment center

King's city after reconstruction Photo: Bercleys
King's city after reconstruction Photo: Bercleys

Moti Green’s Bercleys UK Israel has begun converting the Eilat theme park into a center with 12 cinemas and a conference center opening April 2019.

Bercley’s UK Israel, controlled by developer Moti Green, which is building a large shopping mall at the Dead Sea, recently obtained a building permit for converting the Kings City building into a commercial and entertainment area with 12 movie houses, a convention hall with 1,300 seats, a swimming pool party area, a fast food area, pubs, and a computer games and virtual reality section with 4,000 square meters of game stands.

The company said that a new company doing business in Israel for the first time would operate the movie houses, and that negotiations were in progress with the Isrotel company for renting out the convention hall. A large proportion of the area for pubs and the pool area has already been leased to a company that operates nightclubs in Eilat, including the Selena Club and the Shato bar. The area will have 18,000 square meters of built-up space, and the Bercley’s UK Israel estimates the adjustment costs at NIS 150 million. Bercley’s UK Israel also predicted that work on the area would be completed within a year, and that the new compound would be open for Passover in April 2019.

The company, represented by Advocate Hagai Adoram, plans to submit a plan for the addition of 50,000 square meters of construction rights for 1,300 more hotel rooms to be built around the area. The hotel rooms will be constructed without public spaces like a pool or dining room; these services will be available in the entertainment area itself. “This concept will enable us to build five-star hotel rooms at overnight prices half of those prevailing in Eilat, due to the saving in public space,” Green told “Globes.” “We constantly hear about the decline in activity by the supermarket and retail trade chains because of growing Internet sales, and it is a fact that entire shopping malls are closing down. One thing you can’t buy on the Internet is a night out. The trend is therefore to build entertainment areas that include commerce.

”The past has also proven that the area cannot survive economically as a single tourist attraction like Kings City, and it is therefore important for its composition to provide entertainment for every age group.”

NIS 36 million

The Kings City theme park was sold in late 2015 to the Bercley’s UK Israel and Dona companies for NIS 36 million. The park, built by Africa-Israel and the Dankner family, was put into the hands of a receiver because of its debts to Bank Leumi. The park, which tells biblical stories, includes a four-storey building with 10,000 square meters. The building, whose shape is reminiscent of a palace, occupies 16.3 dunam (4.075 acres) in the eastern laguna of Eilat, near the Rhodes, Dan, and Royal Beach Hotels. The park, which opened in July 2015 suffered from a constant decrease in the number of visitor and revenue, and was put into receivership. Equal partners Bercley’s UK Israel and Dona recently signed an agreement that Bercley’s would acquire Dona’s share in the building. This deal has not yet been completed.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 27, 2018

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018

King's city after reconstruction Photo: Bercleys
King's city after reconstruction Photo: Bercleys
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