Guy Nardi, globes.co.il

Israel Land Administration (ILA) and the Jerusalem Municipality have published a tender for marketing the first site in the new Jerusalem business area. The tender was published through Eden the Jerusalem Center Development Company. The area is located at the western entrance to Jerusalem between the ICC Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyanei Ha'ooma) and the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, next to the railways station. The 300-dunam (75-acre) site will have 20 24-40-floor towers with 1.5 million square meters of space in offices, commerce, hotels, residential construction, public buildings, and cultural institutions.

The current tender includes the 4.5 dunam (1.125-acre) K area on Shazar Boulevard next to the Yitzhak Navon railway station. There is an urban building plan for this site allowing construction of two 36-storey towers with 96,000 square meters of built-up space for commercial, office, and public use. ILA and Eden are now promoting a new urban building plan for this site that will add more construction rights and uses to the lot.

Explaining the importance of the revision, Eden CEO Alon Spitzer told "Globes," "The new urban building plan applies to the entire entrance to the city, and adds sections that were not previously included. We enlarged the land cover, which has changed the size of the buildings we want to erect up to 40 storeys. The new urban building plan also adds business-supporting residences. This is an option for every developer, who can convert the business space into rental apartments."

The land in the Jerusalem entrance project has various owners, which is determining the character of its development. "There are private lots on which the owners will perform the construction. There are also lots owned by ILA, which are for marketing, and which we are marketing in packets. The tender published yesterday is the first packet. Marketing of the lots depends on removal of the bus parking lots there. The third part of the entrance to the city is ICC. This is complicated, because the land belongs to the Jewish National Fund, but the buildings are owned by the Jewish Agency. They have to agree on a format for exercising the rights," Spitzer said.

"Globes": What does this mean for the timetable?

Spitzer: "By definition, the entire entrance to the city will be a construction site for the next 10 years. This process takes time. We'll strive to complete development of the public space, regardless of construction of the buildings. In the end, there's a limit to how many square meters the market can accept all at once."

In Jerusalem, more business space is planned in Malha, Talpiot, the city center, Har Hahotzvim, and Givat Ram. How much business space does Jerusalem need?

"This is an interesting question to which much thought has been devoted for many years. On the one hand, there are no large offices in the market. Per capita business space in Jerusalem is very low. You plan a stock of space 20 years ahead, so this number is not unrealistic."