Africa Israel Hotels (TASE: AFHO), jointly owned by Africa Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL) and Netz Hotels Ltd. (TASE:NZHT), each with a 50% share, today reported that it had signed a lease with Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG) to set up a boutique hotel in the Azrieli Sharona Center, which is currently under construction. The 20-year lease is worth NIS 250 million.
As part of the deal, Africa Israel Hotels will rent 12,000 sq.m. of space on floors 33-37 in the tower. It is reported that the Sharona Azrieli Hotel will be separate from the commercial floors, and will have 160 rooms, separate elevators, and an independent lobby with a restaurant and a business lounge on the bottom floor of the hotel. NIS 50 million will be invested in the hotel.
This is not the first cooperative effort between the two companies. Since 2008, Africa Israel Hotels has operated the 273-room Crown Plaza City Center Hotel in the square building in the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv, including a restaurant and a business lounge. When the Azrieli Sharona Center is completed, the Sharona Azrieli Hotel and the Crowne Plaza City Center Hotel will be within walking distance of each other.
The Azrieli Sharona Center will be 255 meters high, with 61 storeys above a three-storey shopping mall. The average area of a floor in the project will be 2,400 sq.m., with the tower having a total of 115,000 sq.m. of office space. The shopping mall on the bottom floors will have 11,000 sq.m. Investment in construction of the project at the shell level is estimated at NIS 1.5 billion, with construction slated for completion in late 2017. At the same time, the project will also include seven underground levels for parking with 1,400 parking spaces for tenants and visitors.
Azrieli Group CMO Ofer Avram, who is responsible for the group's offices department, said, "The Azrieli Group and Africa Israel Hotels have already been successfully cooperating in the square building in the Azrieli center for a number of years, and the current deal in the Azrieli Sharona Center is a continuation of that. We are currently negotiating with a large number of local and international companies."
Africa Israel Hotels CEO Michael Plesz added, "Setting up a hotel in the heart of Tel Aviv's business and tourism center is another part of Africa Israel Hotels' strategy. After the chain's eighth hotel, Haifa Bay View, was launched several months ago in the central Carmel, our expansion in Tel Aviv was planned and necessary. The hotel's concept and design are in the advanced formulation stages in cooperation with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) chain, a super brand that we represent in Israel. "
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 10, 2015
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