The Urban Renewal Corporation

The Urban Renewal Company is one of the leading and most reliable in Israel, with above 60 successfully projects, more than 20,000 housing units in planning around the country, and 10,000 square meters of commercial and employment space. During the following 3 years, the company is expected to construct over 2,000 housing units per year, with a total transaction volume of billions NIS. Our experience undoubtably proves that the path to successful projects accomplishment lies through true partnership and dialogue with apartment owners, providing solutions in accordance with their needs and preferences, thus creating a mutually beneficial, long-term interaction. This vision underlies our success story, which includes dozens of projects across the country and thousands of households who have joined our family. Tal Goldstein and Ami Kahlon, the company’s founders and managers, established the company in 2009 and since then it has earned its rightful place among leaders in the field of urban renewal, thus contributing to significant changes in this sphere. Ami was among the first in Israel to promote urban renewal, which he identified, at an early stage, as an appropriate solution to the housing crisis in areas of demand across country and a first-priority national interest. Tal began his career in the early nineties, as a real estate entrepreneur in United States. He established a company specializing in real estate management, construction and marketing, a leading company in its segment of the American market. Urban renewal processes are the best way to exercise the right to a new apartment, along with an unprecedented opportunity to renovate old central streets in any city, provide a safe living environment, create an adequate supply of housing units, making Israel thrive both on urban and national level.

Company Activity

The company specializes in initiating raze and rebuild projects, nationwide, from Nahariya in the north to Beer Sheva in the south, including Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, Giv’at Shmuel, Ness Ziona, Petah Tikva, Holon, Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Or Yehuda, Herzliya, Haifa and the Krayot. The company mainly concentrates on urban enhanced demand areas, where creative solutions increasing the housing supply are crucial. In many cases, the projects were carried out due to the company’s cumulative experience in evacuation and building and its effective interaction with the planning and local authorities. This in many cases leads to unprecedented achievements in the urban renewal industry. The company stands behind groundbreaking raze and rebuild project at 64-68 La Guardia Boulevard in Tel Aviv, in which three buildings containing total 72 apartments were demolished, and six 7-9-story buildings with 275 housing units and commercial space were built instead. The apartments were delivered to the pleased tenants. The project is worth about 630 million NIS, and its impact on the neighborhood can already be felt, although its construction is still to be completed. At the same time, the company is successfully promoting other large-scale projects in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood, which include in total about 600 apartments alongside commercial and public areas. These projects, that are in advanced construction stages and are expected to receive additional building permits in the near future, will have substantial impact on urban environment and revive the old neighborhood. As previously mentioned, the company has achieved significant results in other cities, and is managing dozens of raze and rebuild projects in advanced stages of construction. The NEO HaRoeh project, at 151-153 HaRoeh Street in Ramat Gan, worth about 210 million NIS, is a breathtakingly beautiful project, that received a building permit in January 2020, and about to be completed in the next few months. Two old buildings containing 38 units were demolished and are going to be replace with two modern residential buildings of unique design, including 108 housing units. Also, the NEO Ben-Gurion project, worth 250 million NIS, was launched in Givat Shmuel in 2020. This is a large project, situated at the western entrance to the city, at 2-6 Ben-Gurion Street, where two 15-story towers with 148 housing units will be constructed instead of the three existing buildings containing 36 apartments. This project is also in an advanced stage towards delivery of the apartments. The company is also initiated a vast project on HaTayasim Street in Tel Aviv, which is also in the process of construction, as part of this project, three old-style buildings on HaTayasim street 6-10 and Bernfeld 10-14 were demolished, and four 7- and 9-story residential buildings are in construction. The new buildings will include a total of 260 housing units, compared to 72 units in current buildings. The company actively promotes raze and rebuild projects in peripheral areas as well. It has initiated the NEO Ramat Lehi project in Beit Shemesh, a large project, with a plan approved in January 2020 by the planning and construction committee. The project includes construction of 1,200 housing units in 10 new buildings, rising to height of 9 to 27 floors, instead of old-style “train” buildings, constructed in the 1950s with 176 apartments in total. The total value of the project is about 2 billion NIS. Throughout years of operation, the company demonstrates sturdiness, professionalism and tremendous work capacity, which manifests, inter alia, in its interaction with planning authorities, at the local and national level, altering city master plans, thus enabling project to step down from the paper into reality. It should be remembered that these are complex and lengthy processes, requiring tremendous aggregate professional knowledge, cooperation with dozens of entities right holders and interested parties, alongside significant financial resources, that provide the necessary stability and enable banking backup for projects of this scale. In recent years, the company has promoted master plan changes in 30 projects throughout the country.

The Quiet Power, Leading and Involving the Apartment Owners

The Urban Renewal Company rules the progress of the projects it initiates with impressive professionalism, so that all along the process – a period of a few years – it constitutes a continuous and meaningful anchor for the homeowners. The projects’ managers (and the company’s CEOs themselves) alongside 70 of its workers, are maintaining ongoing contact not only with the representatives of the apartment owners, but with each of the homeowners, as long as they require an input or an attentive ear regarding every topic relating to the project. As a company who deals with the complex field of Pinui-Binui, which means evacuating tenants from their apartments, relocating and demolishing the buildings in order to build new ones, The Urban Renewal Company understood from day one that the main and most important principle is the principal of putting the homeowners in the center. The chiefs of the company understood that in the field of urban renewal the apartment owners are the true partners of the entrepreneur since they are the owners of the terrain. They are the ones who are at the heart of the project, and the entrepreneur must guard the security of the most valuable asset as a guarantee of maintaining the security of the project as a whole. The apartment owners are partners who deserve full transparency, all their needs and wishes receive a response and collaborating with them is essential to make the project come true. In 2018, against the background of the company’s success in promoting large projects vis-à-vis the planning authorities, while maintaining an impressive work sequence and minimal bureaucratic tangle, the company founded The Jerusalem Renewal Society along with the real estate company from Jerusalem, ISA Group. In this frame, 24 plans are promoted nowadays in sought-after areas in Jerusalem and in Bnei Brak, in total scope of thousands housing units and thousands square meters of commerce. In April 2020, the Israel Towers Group joined as a leading partner in the ownership of the urban renewal company. The Israel Towers Group is a leader in the field of income-producing real estate and owns hundreds of thousands of square meters of offices, commercial and industrial buildings nationwide, populated by hundreds of tenants. The Israel Towers Group is jointly owned by the Wasserman family from the United States and the Sheffer family from Israel and has a reputation and experience of several years in the construction and management of real estate properties.