Azrieli Sarona Tower


The Azrieli Sarona Tower is a skyscraper in the Sarona neighborhood, Tel Aviv, Israel, on Begin Road. It is high with 61 floors. It is the second-tallest building in Israel, followed by Givatayim's 308-meter-high Beyond Office Tower.

History

In May 2011, the Azrieli Group acquired the land plot for ILS ₪ 522 million via tender from the Israel Land Administration. The plot's size is 9.4 dunam and had a plan for a high office building with a volume of for office use and for commercial use. In 2012 the Azrieli Group appealed the Regional Committee for Planning and Construction of the Tel Aviv District, asking to transfer to increase the area for commercial use. The committee accepted the request, but demanded that an eighth garage floor will be built. Due to the expected high price and the increased construction time, a compromise was achieved and instead of an eighth garage floor, 500 of the parking spots were agreed to be designated for public use such that the residents of Tel Aviv would not pay more than the price charged at municipal parking stations owned by the city of Tel Aviv. The seven-story underground garage has a total of 1,600 parking spots, and the commercial center is spread over the first three floors. On the 33rd to 37th floor, there is a plan for a hotel to be built.
In 2013 the Regional Committee for Planning and Construction of the Tel Aviv District authorized the construction of a building above sea level.
In 2015, the Azrieli Group signed an agreement with Africa-Israel Investments, owned by Jewish billionaire and philanthropist Lev Avnerovich Leviev, leasing the floors from the 33rd to the 37th for a period of 20 years for the establishment of a hotel. The hotel will have 160 rooms and will be separate from the business offices, with separate elevators, a separate lobby, a restaurant, and a lounge. Africa-Israel Investments paid 250 million new Israeli shekels and will invest another 50 million shekels in the construction of the new building.
The cornerstone was placed by David Azrieli in a ceremony on 12 March 2012. In June 2016, 60% of the tower was already leased.