Herzliya Mayor Moshe Fadlon said today at a real estate conference in Eilat that he was inviting real estate developers to submit plans for a vacate and build plan in the Shaviv (Yad Hashiva) neighborhood in Herzliya. The Shaviv neighborhood was neglected for many years, and the nearby airport made plans for urban renewal impossible by requiring height restrictions on construction there. In the coming days, the Herzliya municipality engineering department will publish a declaration on the subject.
The Shaviv neighborhood currently has 1,000 housing units, mostly in long buildings with multiple entrances. Several months ago, following an earlier court ruling, the National Planning and Building Commission ruled that Herzliya Airport would be removed in three years, after a complete halt in its activity. The National Planning and Building Commission thereby paved the way for the first time for urban renewal plans in the Shaviv neighborhood.
Located in the northeast part of Herzliya, the Shaviv neighborhood is bordered by Highway 531, which is about to be opened, to the north, the Neve Amal neighborhood to the south, Jerusalem Rd. to the west, and Ra'anana to the east. "We want to see a vacate and build plan for the entire neighborhood, from the southern fence to the northern one," Fadlon said. "A considerable part of the plan should include business space to be set up on the northern side of the neighborhood near Highway 531 and the station for the railway, which is expected to pass between Ra'anana and Herzliya. 70% of the plan is for residential space, and 30% for industry and commerce."
Fadlon commented, "The sky's the limit," and said that the municipality was willing to hear plans with a high economic coefficient - the number of new housing units per each old apartment - among other things because the neighborhood also has both private housing units and long apartment buildings with multiple entrances and many apartments on relatively small plots. Up until now, individual plans by developers for urban renewal in the neighborhood did not manage to overcome the economic viability barrier, due to the large number of housing units in a small area, combined with the height restrictions.
Herzliya city engineer Mike Sacca said, "What makes the plan viable is the broad concept of vacate and build throughout the neighborhood, not on individual land units. We're also willing to listen to an economic coefficient of seven new apartments for each old apartment, providing that the plan is a good one that meets all the neighborhood's needs and can be carried out in 10 years in stages, for example."
With the removal of the airport three years from now, its area, which will be zoned by the Israel Land Authority (ILA), is also slated to go on the market. Most of the area is owned by ILA and is included in the jurisdiction of the Herzliya municipality and the Kfar Shmaryahu local council.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 2, 2015
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