Kikar Hamedina is a missed opportunity

• Published date: 26 January 2023

In the distant past, almost every high-end brand was located in Kikar Hamedina. Today there is only a small selection of exclusive stores and in their place are service stores, neighborhood stores and a relatively large range (11 out of 160) of empty stores. In the Ramat Aviv Mall, which has become the home for Israel's high-end and most successful brands, monthly rental for a store is NIS 460 per square meter, while in Kikar Hamedina it is just NIS 250-300 per square meter (in smaller stores but less in bigger stores)

In Tel Aviv there are many streets that benefit from a high level of economic performance, relative to shopping centers and other streets in Israel. However, most of them are far from looking, performing and offering what is found in the central and famous streets of leading European cities. In Milan, Rome and Munich, monthly rents of about €500 per square meter and more per month are received, in Paris and London rents can cost even more than €1,000 per square meter per month - 10 times more than in Tel Aviv.

A city of extremes

According to Tel Aviv's statistical yearbook, at the end of 2021 the city had about 470,000 residents. Of these, about 18% are children up to the age of 15, 27% are young people aged 18-35 (with fewer children than the national average and more young people), 28% and 23%, respectively. About 15% of the city's residents are over the age of 65 - higher than the national average of 12%. Meaning, a city of "extremes."

In 2021, Tel Aviv recorded negative migration, with more people leaving the city than moving to it, but due to natural reproduction and international migration, the city's population grew. About 13,300 residents in 6,000 households live in the streets around Kikar Hamadinah.

According to Czamanski & Ben Shahar's data, 55% of commercial space in Tel Aviv is along streets and 45% in shopping centers. Tel Aviv has 825,000 square meters of retail commercial space of which 295,000 square meters is in shopping centers. This commercial space serves the entire country and not just the residents of Tel Aviv.

Why has 10,000 square meters disappeared?

The plan for Kikar Hamedina includes three spiral-shaped residential towers with 453 apartments. Each tower will have 40 floors with four underground floors for parking. In addition, there will be two public buildings - an elementary school and community center - as well as an artificial lake, green areas and pedestrian avenues that will help the area retain its...