Last week, Talbiyeh residents of apartments in buildings 1, 3, and 5 on Smolenskin Street and 2 and 4 on Ahad Ha’am Street received notices advising them of a residents’ meeting on January 28 at the Prima Royale Hotel on Mendele Mocher Sforim Street, a block away.
The notice was from real estate developers Yamin and Neumann, who want to take over these five buildings within the context of an evacuate-and-build project, which will add masses of residents to a small, narrow street and its slightly larger adjoining street.
The more veteran residents have been faced with this before from other real estate developers. Some months before this meeting was called, representatives of one or both of the companies came knocking door to door to sound out apartment owners. Most of the resident owners in all five buildings are senior citizens who have lived there for half a century and more.
Very few of them are Israeli-born; they came to Israel out of Zionist fervor, sometimes based on promises that they would never have to suffer the indignities thrust upon them as Jews in their countries of origin.
Why do they have to be displaced in the twilight of their lives – and in of all places, the Jewish homeland?
Allocations made at developer's discretion
What developers in these mammoth projects seldom reveal is that when the project is completed, residents will not necessarily return to the floors on which they lived. Allocations will be made at the developer’s discretion.
Rooms, such as a large master bedroom, may be smaller because someone living in four rooms has been promised five in the new building – which means the floor space won’t change but the walls will – hence smaller rooms, and possibly the loss of a balcony to enable a larger living room.
Elevators will be installed, which may be convenient but are also expensive. The va’ad bayit (residents or housing committee) payments for maintenance will skyrocket because the new buildings will have a management company and a concierge. So from paying something in the range of NIS 200 to NIS 250 per month, residents will be asked to fork out an excess of NIS 2,500.
Some years ago, if only one resident apartment owner objected, the rebuilding project was shelved or was changed so that anything up to another six floors was built on top of the existing project. This still happens when residents get together and sell the airspace on top of their buildings. It’s not a very comfortable situation, but it’s a vast improvement over evacuating and building for those people who don’t want to move out of their homes or neighborhoods.
What will happen if majority of residents own cars on small streets?
The big question is in small, narrow streets such as Smolenskin in which the highest street number is nine – the house that for decades has served as the Prime Minister’s Residence – what will happen if even 70% of the residents own cars?
Even under the present circumstances, there isn’t enough room for all the cars, but there is a large car parking facility around the corner of the Ahad Ha’am-Keren HaYesod intersection. But this, too, has caught the eye of developers and will eventually be the site of a residential project or hotel.
True, new residential projects must have underground car parks, but what happens when 20 cars pull out at roughly the same time? And there will be a lot more than 20 cars in a project of this size. What is interesting is that hotels are still being built while tourism is at a very low ebb, and some existing hotels have been closed down because it’s too expensive to keep them open.
One can understand if a developer wants to put up a residential or commercial project on a vacant plot. But why move people out of their homes? It’s a form of invasion of privacy.
A safe haven
Your home is supposed to be your safest place. But it isn’t because greedy developers and their lackeys continue to hound you in the hope of breaking down your resistance.
In the case of Smolenskin Street, it has been mentioned before that construction work (including upgrading of security) is underway at the Prime Minister’s Residence, indicating that preparations have begun for occupancy after its being vacant for more than three years.
Mammoth residential project
It may be recalled that a new residence had been planned near the entrance to the city but was scrapped by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) because its immediate neighbors were high-rises that posed a security risk for the prime minister.
A mammoth residential project only two doors away would also pose a security risk, which could mean sealing off half of Smolenskin Street and half of Balfour Street. Large notices have already been posted in both these streets, advising of new security regulations. Talbiyeh is an upmarket neighborhood, but the value of apartments will be downgraded if passage through certain streets is blocked.
The January 28 meeting
All these issues should be borne in mind by those residents who attend the meeting on January 28. There is also the possibility, as has happened with projects started by other developers, that the initiators will have a financial setback and will suspend construction indefinitely.
A project of this kind takes at least three years to complete, which is a long time for people to be out of their homes. But the time frame could extend to five and even 10 years. So much rebuilding is needed in the South and North of the country.
Surely real estate developers should be focusing their attention on these areas so that the affected communities can begin to heal, and returning residents can get on with their lives. It may be less profitable than building in Jerusalem, but it would be much more patriotic in a country in which patriotism should take precedence over politics and profitability.
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