Calcalist, Shlomit Tzur   21.01.2021

The Tel Aviv Municipality next week will present to the district committee a renewal plan for Ibn Gvirol Street, which will include a mix of uses and an office floor in each building. For the first time: apartment owners who will be incorporated with the aim of realizing an urban renewal project will be required to give their consent to the office floor in the building, which raises concerns that many projects will now get stuck in the pipeline.

According to the plan, prepared by architect Danny Lazar, each project will be charged on an office floor above a commercial ground floor, and 25% of the residential apartments in the project will be small apartments. Most buildings will not have a parking standard, and a reduced parking standard will be set for corner buildings where parking is allowed, due to the proximity to the light rail axis and the municipality's desire to encourage priority for pedestrians, cyclists and use of public transportation. The municipality explains that the purpose of the plan is to renovate the buildings along the street, while maintaining the existing colonnade design and commerce.

Many in the industry fear that the approval of the plan will be a negative incentive for the agreements of apartment owners to carry out a project. "Harnessing homeowners to reach an agreement anyway is not a simple thing, certainly when adding an office floor," says attorney Ziv Grumman. Apart from the complexity of adding office space, the main incentive in these areas is the addition of parking, which can reach a value of hundreds of thousands of shekels. However, in most of the buildings on Ibn Gvirol Street, the municipality does not allow entry to the parking lots from the street because it is a main traffic lane, hence the parking incentive is almost non-existent. " The corona, "which may be less suitable for the addition of offices."

The chairman of the Tel Aviv and Central District Contractors' Association, Yehuda wrote, is much more determined: "I would not live in such buildings. Unlike towers, which have a mix of uses and have separate entrances and a separate lobby for each use, in low-rise buildings like Ibn Gvirol the mix of uses is already a complicated matter. One inside the other. Each of the tenants, of the residence or offices, has a different interest, and therefore a management company also provides a different service to the apartments and offices. Do this in the past in buildings that surround State Square so you can learn from the lessons of the past. But in the end, every municipality prefers commerce and offices to housing. "

A reporter warns that the problem of parking on the street and in the city in general will worsen even before the light rail starts operating, due to the reduced parking standard set by the municipality in new plans: "No one really knows when the light rail will start traveling "So that the parking spaces can be turned into garden apartments, offices or clinics."

Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor and Acting Chairman of the Subcommittee on Planning and Construction Reuven Ladiansky believes that this is a good plan: "For office floors in residential buildings that will be regulated inMaster PlanIt is of high importance in terms of the value it gives to those who live in the area, and can go to the dentist or accountant within walking distance. As for the willingness of apartment owners, it should be remembered that offices are the best neighbors. They work in the morning and go towards the evening.

“The parking argument is detached from reality, because Ibn Gvirol Street is going to change its face completely. The light rail that you will pass will eliminate the need for parking and vehicles. It is true that those who will determine in the end whether the plan will be realized are the market forces, but even if it is only realized in some of the buildings on Ibn Gvirol Street, that is fine. I would not like to see all the buildings on the street become new. The city should allow affordable housing for both young and old. And it's right to leave some of the old buildings on the street as well. "