Haifa Casino Hotel Plan Advances with Public Beach Access in Businessman Dankner Deal

A compromise between businessman Gil Dankner and the Haifa municipality is set to advance plans to build a hotel at the abandoned Haifa Casino site. In exchange for adding an extra floor to the hotel, Dankner will open the entire designated area and adjacent beachfront to the public, creating a new public space for residents. The casino building, a well-known Haifa landmark, has been abandoned for 40 years.

In September 2025, a regional committee received a plan to construct a 7.5-story hotel on the site, exceeding the 6.5-story limit in the nearby Bat Galim neighborhood. Dankner and his company, Dor Chemicals, submitted the initiative, which still awaits official approval. The original plan included a private building on the open area next to the casino, drawing criticism from environmental groups and Bat Galim residents.

Key unresolved issues include how much of the historic casino structure, built in the 1930s and vacant since the 1960s, will be preserved amid its conversion to a hotel or residential use. Sarit Golan Steinberg, Haifa’s deputy mayor and chair of the city’s planning subcommittee, announced the agreement to open a significant part of the historic complex to the public for the first time in decades, even before the plan’s formal approval.

City council member and appraiser Asaf Gastfreund noted that Bat Galim property prices are among the highest in Haifa, around 50,000 shekels per square meter, and supported higher-density construction along the coast. He highlighted the neighborhood’s appeal to investors and ongoing urban renewal projects.

Dankner, cousin of businessman Nochi Dankner, purchased the casino building in 2011. The land is jointly owned by Dor Chemicals (66%), the state, and Haifa municipality. Dankner previously owned the Kastrah Mall in Haifa, which failed commercially in the early 2000s.