Calcalist, Dror Marmor, 22.03.2021
Discount Bank and the Harel Insurance Company have in recent days signed a financing agreement for the construction of the residential and hotel project with the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv , with a credit volume of close to NIS 3 billion. The financing transaction of the project, whose simulations are revealed here for the first time, includes providing credit of NIS 700 million for the construction of the hotel and issuing guarantees to the buyers of the apartments in the amount of more than NIS 2 billion.
As part of the project, two adjacent towers, 25 floors each, will be built. In the first residential tower, 230 apartments will be built in an area of 75 to 300 square meters per apartment. So far, several dozen apartments have been sold to relatives only at a price of at least NIS 100,000 per square meter and official marketing will begin in just a few weeks. According to the developers' plan, depending on the progress of construction, they will try to raise the asking price per square meter, "which will jump by 10% - 15% at least in a year and a half, when they see the development and construction momentum throughout the area."
Mandarin will employ a team
In the second building, a hotel will be built that will include 227 rooms. In addition, the project will include 1,000 commercial square meters under the residential building and another 1,200 square meters that the municipality has preserved as a public building, which will be used mainly for marine activities. The highlight for the developers is the bringing of the prestigious international chain Mandarin Oriental, for the management of the hotel. The chain currently has 33 hotels around the world and is proud of the 25 Michelin stars awarded to the 17 restaurants that operate in them. The Tel Aviv hotel will also provide service to the tenants in the residential tower.
Mandarin Oriental was selected from six chains that participated in the tender. According to the developers' estimates, the investment in the construction of the hotel that will open in about four years will be NIS 1.3 billion. The contract with the chain was signed for a period of 40 years and it will employ people on its behalf and not through a method of franchising through an Israeli entity.
In March 2015, the land in front of the Dolphinarium - which covers an area of about 18 dunams - was purchased for NIS 220 million, by Seagate Sha'ar Hayam Real Estate owned by Yonatan Kolber, Shmuel Harlap, Sir Ronald Cohen, Zvi Barak and the Bronfman family (through the Claridge Foundation Owned by her).
Simulating the towers. "The price will jump by 15% in a year and a half"Imaging: viewpoint
The seller, businessman Yosef Buchman, purchased the Dolphinarium complex from the court in 1989, and conducted lengthy and infamous negotiations over a land swap deal with the Israel Land Authority and the Tel Aviv Municipality, which wanted to produce a coastal promenade.
Herzl Habas, a former controlling shareholder in Habas, and Orit Friedman Weissman, a former partner in the Goldman Sachs investment bank, have been managing the project in recent years.
Huge expenses before construction
Even before construction began and placing the cranes on the ground, the developers spent a huge sum of about a billion shekels, which came mainly from their equity. In addition to the payment to the landowner, the purchasers paid another NIS 320 million to the Israel Land Authority as a permit fee and another NIS 370 million to the Tel Aviv Municipality for the improvement levy.
In 2018, they had to pay several million more shekels for the demolition of the abandoned dolphinarium. In recent months, in parallel with the negotiations on the financing of the project, excavation and backfilling work has begun at a cost that has already reached NIS 150 million. Comment".