Guy Nardi, globes.co.il
The Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Commission approved today for deposit a plan for the Tara site. The site is located between Yigal Allon Street and the Ayalon Highway, opposite the Azrieli Towers site. The 23-dunam (5.75-acre) site is owned by Milco Industries, controlled by the Central Bottling Company (Coca Cola Israel); the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality; and the Israel Land Authority. Architect Avner Yashar designed the plan.
The Tara Dairy was built in the 1940s after a group of dairy farmers from the Nahalat Yitzhak neighborhood, which was not within the Tel Aviv municipal boundaries at the time, founded a dairy and incorporated it. The lot was on the bank of Wadi Musrara (the Ayalon River) in an area subject to seasonal floods, and was therefore unsuitable for residences. Tara Dairy operated there for decades, before moving to Netivot.
The plan approved today proposes construction of four towers of up to 65 storeys each: two next to Yigal Allon Street and two next to the Ayalon Highway. There will also be a six-storey neighborhood building with a commercial façade next to the towers on Yigal Allon Street. The entire project will have a total of 663 housing units. Only 311 housing units will be built in the initial stage; if and when the Ayalon channel is covered, 352 more housing units will be built. 195,000 square meters of offices and 30,000 square meters of public buildings and institutions are also being proposed. The plan also proposes over five dunam (1.25 acres) of open space.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Local Planning and Building Commission approved the master plan for covering the Ayalon channel in 2016. Covering the channel will facilitate development of new public space that will improve allocation of green space and become a focus for leisure, bicycle paths and walking, cafes, and commercial activity. Only sections of the Ayalon Highway will be covered, not all of it. The plan is be carried out gradually.
Tel Aviv District planner Hava Erlich-Roginsky said, "The plan proposes development and urban renewal appropriate for its central location in the heart of the metropolitan business district in line with the Tel Aviv district's policy of building along mass transit system arteries, since the site is near the Hashalom Railway Station and the future metro station."