The complex where for many years the office of the city officer of Jerusalem was located, at 27 Hillel Street, was sold this week to the French-Israeli businessman Laurent Levy (L. Levy Real Estate) for the sum of NIS 180 million. The complex, which has an area of 2.4 dunams, includes a historical building, which is partly for conservation and a parking lot. The building where the city officer’s offices were located has been abandoned for the past six years. According to the OTBA, the purpose of the lot is commercial, an additional building can be built there, but the developer will be required to set aside 462 square meters for a public purpose. The minimum price quoted by the Rami appraiser was NIS 95 million. Only 4 bids were submitted for the tender.
The complex where the building is located was built at the end of the 19th century as an initiative of the monk Ladislaus Schneider and the “Palestinian Association of Catholics in Germany”. The first building erected in the complex is the Catholic Center, which today houses the Museum of Italian Judaism and the Italian Synagogue. In 1886, the Schmidt school and a hospital were built on the lot. The designer of the complex was the German Templar architect Theodor Zandel.
Hillel Street, located parallel to the Ben Yehuda Promenade, serves as a thoroughfare connecting King George Street and the east of the city. The Catholic Center in the Schmidt complex, where the city officer’s building is also located, was the first building on Hillel Street. Most of the other buildings were built during the British rule. The lower part of the street borders the Independence Garden and Nachalat Sheva.
In recent years, French-Israeli businessman Laurent Levy, owner of the optical chain “Optical Center”, which spans six countries, has become a leading real estate developer, especially in Jerusalem. He has dozens of apartments in the most sought-after locations in Jerusalem, as well as quite a few commercial spaces.
Itai Shafran, from the Geocartography Institute, claims that the deal reflects well the development trend of downtown Jerusalem: “The area of Mahane Yehuda Market, Jaffa Street, the triangle, Zion Square, and the Garden of Independence is one of the most sought after in Jerusalem today and is characterized by an exceptional mix of uses. The renewal of the area is linked Good for the accessibility of public transportation, both the light rail and the heavy rail. Residential land values in this area are at the highest prices in the capital – over 50-60 thousand NIS per square meter.