The IBA's ramshackle Romema building is about to become history, to be replaced by a new neighborhood of luxury housing for hareidim and a state-of-the-art broadcast center and digital broadcast tower for Israel TV and foreign channels.
While the storied old building served as the site of the IBA's first televised broadcast back in 1968, today it is ill-suited to modern communications. Moreover the site has greatly appreciated as Jerusalem's hareidi population has grown.
Plans call for a new center to be erected near the present building including a huge communications antenna like the Telecom Tower Berlin-Sch?ferberg in the German capital.
"The purpose it to build a special and contemporary building, for example the CN Tower in Toronto," said MK Eitan Cabel, the minister in charge of the IBA, referring to the world's tallest freestanding structure – which stands at 553.33 meters.
This week Cabel's grandiose proposal will be presented to Minister of Finance Avraham Hirschson. The Minister of Construction and Housing Meir Sheetrit has already given his blessing to the scheme, which will be presented before the cabinet in a coming session.
The Ministry of Finance, by the way, had supported moving TV broadcasting from Jerusalem to nearby Neve Ilan where land is cheaper and the infrastructure built for the Golan-Globus Studios already exists. But for symbolic reasons it decided not to remove the IBA from the Israeli capital.
Thus the new plan was drawn up: the present building and the adjoining properties including the radio offices will be moved and the land sold, mostly to create a new luxury hareidi neighborhood. With the price of land soaring in Romema due to its proximity to the Central Bus Station and the new Train Station under construction and due to be completed in 2011, the IBA is expecting to make a handsome profit. Those funds will pay for the new building and tower.
The director of the project Gabi Shohat of the Finance Ministry is expected to issue an architectural tender shortly. The cost of the design will be NIS 1 million.
"The conditions today for IBA workers are utterly disgraceful," MK Cabel said. "The new building will be truly fantastic. All those working in broadcasting in Jerusalem today, both Israelis and foreigners, will be concentrated in a single facility with a great savings. We're talking about one of the most unique buildings to be erected in Jerusalem, and one with a distinctive appearance. We'll put up a building that will be amazing like the TV structures in Toronto or Berlin."
The Ministry of Housing and the Treasury also emphasized "This isn't a regular building. It will be larger than 10,000 sq m, and will incorporate a visitors center, rental of services for communications staff, and preparation of courses for media, etc."
Toronto's CN Tower is a symbol of the Canadian city, and attracts two million visitors annually. While originally intended as a telecommunications mastiff, it became more profitable as a tourist attraction than as a broadcast tower.
The irony is that Jerusalem already has a 438-meter high antenna – the WNWO Tower in Jerusalem, Ohio.
The Warsaw Radio Mast (Warszawa radio maszt) was the world's tallest structure until its collapse in 1991. Designed by Jan Polak and completed in 1974, it stood at 646.38 meters.
While the storied old building served as the site of the IBA's first televised broadcast back in 1968, today it is ill-suited to modern communications. Moreover the site has greatly appreciated as Jerusalem's hareidi population has grown.
Plans call for a new center to be erected near the present building including a huge communications antenna like the Telecom Tower Berlin-Sch?ferberg in the German capital.
"The purpose it to build a special and contemporary building, for example the CN Tower in Toronto," said MK Eitan Cabel, the minister in charge of the IBA, referring to the world's tallest freestanding structure – which stands at 553.33 meters.
This week Cabel's grandiose proposal will be presented to Minister of Finance Avraham Hirschson. The Minister of Construction and Housing Meir Sheetrit has already given his blessing to the scheme, which will be presented before the cabinet in a coming session.
The Ministry of Finance, by the way, had supported moving TV broadcasting from Jerusalem to nearby Neve Ilan where land is cheaper and the infrastructure built for the Golan-Globus Studios already exists. But for symbolic reasons it decided not to remove the IBA from the Israeli capital.
Thus the new plan was drawn up: the present building and the adjoining properties including the radio offices will be moved and the land sold, mostly to create a new luxury hareidi neighborhood. With the price of land soaring in Romema due to its proximity to the Central Bus Station and the new Train Station under construction and due to be completed in 2011, the IBA is expecting to make a handsome profit. Those funds will pay for the new building and tower.
The director of the project Gabi Shohat of the Finance Ministry is expected to issue an architectural tender shortly. The cost of the design will be NIS 1 million.
"The conditions today for IBA workers are utterly disgraceful," MK Cabel said. "The new building will be truly fantastic. All those working in broadcasting in Jerusalem today, both Israelis and foreigners, will be concentrated in a single facility with a great savings. We're talking about one of the most unique buildings to be erected in Jerusalem, and one with a distinctive appearance. We'll put up a building that will be amazing like the TV structures in Toronto or Berlin."
The Ministry of Housing and the Treasury also emphasized "This isn't a regular building. It will be larger than 10,000 sq m, and will incorporate a visitors center, rental of services for communications staff, and preparation of courses for media, etc."
Toronto's CN Tower is a symbol of the Canadian city, and attracts two million visitors annually. While originally intended as a telecommunications mastiff, it became more profitable as a tourist attraction than as a broadcast tower.
The irony is that Jerusalem already has a 438-meter high antenna – the WNWO Tower in Jerusalem, Ohio.
The Warsaw Radio Mast (Warszawa radio maszt) was the world's tallest structure until its collapse in 1991. Designed by Jan Polak and completed in 1974, it stood at 646.38 meters.
