Redevelopment plan for Tel Aviv’s heart nears approval

The Tel Aviv “rova’im” (“quarters”) plan divided the city into nine separate areas, each with different characteristics, with the aim of advancing construction and development appropriate to each. When the plan for the central Rova 5 and Rova 6 areas started life back in 2014, no-one at the Tel Aviv Municipality would have expected that it would take such a long time until it was approved. This week, after more than a decade, it will finally be submitted for approval, and renewal of an area crying out for it will get underway, but under rigid restrictions: preservation orders in Tel Aviv’s “White City”.

The local Tel Aviv-Yafo Planning and Building Committee will discuss objections to the plan this week, after which it is expected to adopt it, and to recommend the Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Committee to give it final approval.

Rova 5 and Rova 6 are demarcated by Bograshov Street in the north, Yitzhak Elhanan Street in the south, Hayarkon Street in the west, and Menachem Begin Road in the east. They contain attractive neighborhoods that are in very high demand, among the Lev Ha’ir neighborhood and Rothschild Boulevard, Allenby Street, the Carmel Market, and the Kerem Hatemanim neighborhood. Above all, they form a substantial part of the World Heritage site proclaimed by UNESCO in 2003.

In fact, about 90% of these two areas is within the White City site, which means strict preservation rules. About 50% of the buildings are defined as buildings for preservation at one level or another, and the new plan, according to its rules, does not apply to them.

Similarly, new development in the proclamation area will have to be carried out in accordance with clear rules, with the aim, on the part of the municipality, of preserving the special characteristics of the area. “The design of buildings and development of sites in the proclamation area will be in accordance with the architectural and historical of the existing buildings and the existing fabric. In the case of additions to existing buildings, the additional construction will be required to match the architectural characteristics of the existing building,” the preamble to the plan states.

These rules very much limit the development possibilities under the plan, both for new construction and for additions to existing buildings. In the UNESCO proclamation area, in certain streets, buildings will be restricted to a maximum of six floors, plus a partial floor on the roof. In other streets in that area, the maximum will be five floors plus a partial floor on the roof.

Despite this, the Rova 5 and Rova 6 provides tools for fairly extensive development. It currently proposes the addition of 7,077 housing units, chiefly through urban renewal projects, to the current total of 6,178 units.

The emphasis on urban renewal (demolition and rebuilding) is not surprising. According the municipality’s data, about two-thirds of the buildings in the two areas were built before 1950. But, given the limited building rights, will the plan make possible substantial urban renewal?

“For developers working in Tel Aviv, it is very easy these days to estimate the development potential offered by any plan,” says Illy Berr, chairman of the Municipal Committee of the Association of Contractors and Builders Tel Aviv & Central Region, and owner and co-CEO of developer Eco City, which is mainly active in Tel Aviv. “I estimate that development under the new plan will be similar to that in Rova 3, where the rights are relatively small and do not permit real momentum in urban renewal. In my opinion, the contribution of the plan to urban renewal in these areas will be minor.

“The plots in these areas are fairly small,” he continues, “and together with the assessment that betterment levies will be imposed in these areas, unlike in Rova 3 and Rova 4, and taking into consideration the fact that the municipality plans to mandate the allocation of land for public needs on the larger plots, it would appear that development will be very limited. In my view, demolition and reconstruction projects will not be economically viable, and we will actually see more reinforcement and extension projects. We are already receiving many approaches for carrying out development in these areas, and we are rejecting them, because they are not really capable of being implemented.”

Nehama Bogin, president of the Israel Real Estate Appraisers Association, agrees that the plan has rather limited potential, but she believes that real estate development in these areas too will be extensive. “The proclamation areas do substantially affect development in these areas, but they are still attractive and in very high demand. We have perhaps grown somewhat accustomed to the massive activity in Rova 4, but anything in Tel Aviv will always draw intensive development and thorough exploitation of the potential. The Lev Ha’ir neighborhood, for example, is crying out for renewal, and, even with limited potential, demand will still be very high.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 20, 2025.