The first apartments at 127-133 Weizmann Street in Ra'anana are being demolished today in the city's first urban renewal project. 48 old apartments in four buildings are being replaced by 154 new apartments in four 10-storey buildings, a 3.2 ratio of new apartments to old apartments. The project is being carried out by Ashli, owned by Asher Alon; S. Michaelson, owned by Ya'acov Apirion; and Li-Ran,owned by Israel Builders Association president Roni Brik.
A number of National Outline Plan projects approved by the Local Planning and Building Commission on relatively short timetables have already taken place in Ra'anana, but no urban renewal project approved by the District Planning and Building Commission has been carried out before; the Weizmann Street project is the city's first urban renewal project to reach the implementation stage. The Local Planning and Building Commission recommended it for deposit in July 2014 on condition that 20% of the apartments be small apartments, and the District Planning and Building Commission approved it in May 2016. One third of the apartments in the project will be three-room apartments, for which prices will start at NIS 1.79 million.
The old site has four buildings, three of which will be demolished in the coming days. The fourth building will be used in the near future for emergency preparation drills by the Ra'anana municipality rescue and evacuation unit.
"Urban renewal projects are the most challenging projects that developers can take on themselves today," Brik said. "Hundreds of neighborhoods in Israel are crying out for urban renewal, but the actual results are far from encouraging. Of the 53,000 housing units on which construction began in 2016, only 2,263 apartments were built in the framework of urban renewal projects, amounting to 4% of building starts. That's not enough."
Ra'anana Local Planning and Building Commission chairman Advocate Eitan Ginzburg said, "Ra'anana is undergoing a significant urban renewal process. Projects of this type enable residents living in neighborhoods built many years ago to improve the quality of their lives and benefit from upgraded apartments and buildings. Urban renewal also contributes to renewing the city's appearance and increasing the stock of apartments in Ra'anana, while creating a diverse mix of housing units of various sizes suitable for different types of population groups. All of the development in the city is according to an enlightened and careful planning policy that will also enable young people to find housing suitable to their needs."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on August 23, 2017
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