Dizengoff Center Plans Major Expansion with Housing, Hotel, and Rooftop Park

Tel Aviv's iconic Dizengoff Center is slated for its most significant expansion to date, following a recommendation from the city's Local Planning and Building Committee to advance a plan that will add three floors and a partial additional floor, bringing the commercial structure to a total of seven stories. The project aims to increase the built area by approximately 33,000 square meters, incorporating new uses such as a hotel, micro-apartments for rent, and a 3.5-dunam public park on the rooftop. The two existing towers, a 26-story residential tower with about 220 apartments and a 14-story office tower, will remain unchanged.

The proposed plan includes the addition of up to 85 micro-apartments, each between 27 and 35 square meters, intended for permanent rental. Approximately 15% of these new units, around 13 apartments, will be designated as affordable housing, offered at a 40% discount to market rates for 25 years. Additionally, a hotel with 40 to 50 rooms is planned, alongside nearly 2,000 square meters for public uses and an additional 750 square meters of adjacent open spaces, which could be utilized for daycare centers and kindergartens.

A central feature of the expansion is the creation of a continuous public park spanning at least 3.5 dunams on the center's roof. This park will be accessible to the public during operating hours and will include landscaping, seating areas, urban farming initiatives, beekeeping, environmental activities, and renewable energy generation facilities. The plan also involves opening new commercial frontages, improving pedestrian connectivity, establishing new passages, and strengthening the link between the center and its surrounding streets.

Notably, the expansion does not include any new parking spaces for the commercial uses; in fact, the total number of parking spots in the complex is expected to decrease from 874 to 843. Gidi Bar-Or, the architect of the plan, described it as a vision for a sustainable, multi-use center connecting commerce, residence, hospitality, employment, and public facilities, emphasizing the rooftop park's accessibility and the project's goal to create a more open, diverse, and sustainable urban space.

Reuven Ladianski, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo and head of sustainable planning, stated that the plan was approved for deposit because it advances the municipality's principles of better utilizing existing urban space, adding public areas, housing, and hospitality, and enhancing shade, green spaces, and the overall urban environment. The plan is still in the planning stages and requires further approval from the District Committee.