Electra and Ashtrom were selected to carry out the Kikar Hamedina project in Tel Aviv

The two will receive NIS 1.4 billion for the project’s construction, including three residential towers of 40 floors each and 450 apartments in total, and a 10-story building for public use. The selection of the two transpired two and a half years after being granted an excavation and digging permit.

Electra and Ashtrom were selected to build the vast residential project in Kikar Hamedina in Tel Aviv. Calcalist has learned that the owners with the rights to the land have chosen Ashtrom and Electra to set up the project together, and they will serve as its executive contractors. The construction is worth NIS 1.4 billion, and the two giant companies will carry it out together. Each company will receive NIS 700 million for its share of the work. They were chosen two and a half years after being granted an excavation and dipping permit for a project carried out by Base Pile, part of the Ashtrom Group.

Israel’s six largest construction companies competed for the project: Tidhar, Danya Cebus, Solel Boneh, Ashtrom Electra, and Sivan Execution from the Hamerman plant group. Bareket Foundation, owned by Gil Deutsch, Roni Biram, and Adi Gazit, will fund the project with Clal Insurance.

In October 2017, the Tel Aviv District Committee approved the construction plan for Kikar Hamedina. It passed through several design establishments and is considered one of the most expensive land reserves in the country. The surface area of ​​Kikar Hamedina is 20 acres, and the project includes three towers of 40 floors each and 450 apartments plus a 10-story building for public use. The land ownership is split between 240 private landowners who share the rights for construction, some of whom have held the rights for many years. The Tel Aviv Municipality also owns parts of it.

The land on which Kikar Hamedina is located is one of the central locations in Tel Aviv, starting in the 1940s when about 20 buyers purchased the land. Over the years, there have been several plans regarding the square, which did not proceed. One of the plans was by former mayor Shlomo Lahat to expropriate the lands from their owners and turn them into a reserve. In response, the landowners petitioned the High Court and demanded the exercise of ownership. A quarter of the square remained privately owned, with the rest belonging to the municipality.

Ashtrom, founded in 1963, is one of Israel’s largest engineering and infrastructure groups. Rami Nussbaum and Gil Giron serve as co-CEOs, and the group is traded at a value of NIS 7.7 billion. The group is in charge of the new Haifa port, rental projects in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Carmel Tunnels, the Light Rail in Jerusalem, and malls. At a profit of NIS 823 million.

Electra, founded in 1945 by Yehuda Gozendheit as an elevator company, went through various incarnations before being acquired by Elco, which the Zalkind family holds, in 1991. The company operates in construction and operations internationally, real estate, electro-mechanical systems and infrastructure, and in complementary areas, from real estate management and systems operation and maintenance, through a national service system in various fields to complex and wide-ranging projects. Brothers Mike and Danny Zalkind are the controlling owners, and Itamar Deutscher is the CEO.

In January, Electra entered the transportation business when it acquired 51% of the Afikim transportation company. Four months later, it acquired full ownership of Egged Transport for about NIS 200 million. The company is traded at a value of NIS 8 billion and ended the first nine months of the year with a profit of NIS 171 million.