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

Tel Aviv's iconic Dizengoff Center is slated for its largest expansion to date, following a recommendation by 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 expansion will add approximately 33,000 square meters of built space, 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 building with about 220 apartments and a 14-story office tower, will remain unchanged.

The proposed plan, designated TA/5055, aims to transform the center into a mixed-use complex. The rooftop park is envisioned as a continuous public space accessible throughout the center's operating hours, featuring green areas, seating, urban farming initiatives, beekeeping, environmental activities, and renewable energy generation facilities. The project also includes opening new commercial frontages, improving pedestrian connectivity, and creating new passages to better integrate the center with its surrounding streets.

In addition to the commercial and public spaces, the plan proposes adding up to 85 micro-apartments, each between 27 and 35 square meters, 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. A hotel with 40 to 50 rooms is also planned, alongside nearly 2,000 square meters for public uses, including potential daycare and kindergarten facilities.

Notably, the expansion does not include additional parking spaces for 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 buildings, emphasizing the goal of creating a more open, diverse, and sustainable urban space.

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