Nearly 200 Ramat Hasharon residents and 70 business-owners recently filed an objection to the construction of the Big Shopping Centers (2004) Ltd. (TASE:BIG) Fashion Glilot mall, to be built near the Cinema City complex in the city’s northwest.
The opponents said the plan must be postponed because its construction at the outskirts of the city will hurt the local businesses in Ramat Hasharon’s central avenues Sokolov and Ussishkin. Among the opponents is the foundation for an ecological Israel, which aims to stop the movement of commerce from the city center to its suburbs.
The plan was formulated by the owners of the land and Big it centers on a plot north of the Cinema City complex in Glilot, close to the coastal road and the Glilot Interchange.
The property has a plan that was previously approved, which limits the commercial space to 20% to be built only on the ground level of office towers. But recently, the owners of the property and Big filed a request with the local planning and building committee to change the plan.
Under the new plan, the property owners and Big ask to convert a larger part of the plot to commercial space 30%. They further asked the committee to approve an additional 1,000 square meters of commercial space, as well as permission for allow commercial activity from the basement floor to three floors above ground essentially requesting permission for a 4-story open air fashion mall.
The opposition brief filed to the local council claims the new plan significantly increases the commercial space and effectively creates a massive mall.
“The plan will change the nature of the complex from an employment complex with complementary commercial space to a massive commercial mall that will starve out and kill the city’s historical central avenue,” claimed the brief.
For their support, the objectors submitted the professional opinion of economist Ezra Sedan, who argued the mall would have far-reaching consequences for the business operating in the city center. “The Big mall will lead to a quick and intensive deterioration of the historic and spexial center of Ramat Hasharon, and it will hurt the public space around Sokolov and Ussishkin.
The opposition argued the requested changes veer from the original intention of the plan to place an emphasis on employment and not commerce. “It is only reasonable the local council advance a plan for the complex which reduces the commercial space from 20% to 10%, adding employment areas to the plan instead.”
They noted the area already has three existing malls: Seven Star Mall, Arena Mall, and Ramat Aviv Mall.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 31, 2015
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