The Israel Land Authority and the Apartment for Rent Company published a tender for sale of an 11-dunam (11,000 sq/m) plot of land in the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood on which 132 apartments for rent are intended to be built.
This is the first time that Beit Shemesh is included in the project.
According to the Land Authority's publications, the plot will be sold to the highest bidder, who will also pay NIS 32 million development costs, as well as "value-added-tax" (VAT) and purchase tax.
All apartments are for rent, and unlike other tenders of this type, there are no apartments for sale. The tender has no minimum price, and competition between bidders in the tender will be over the price of the land.
The Land Authority's decision to include Beit Shemesh in the "Apartment for Rent" project did not happen by default, but was a result of a tour the company conducted in the city a year ago to promote the project in Beit Shemesh.
The tour was attended by United Torah Judaism Chairman MK Menachem Eliezer Mozes together with Kulanu Chairman MK Roi Folkman as guests of Mayor Moshe Abutbul, to promote constructing a new neighborhood for those eligible for housing.
The tour began with a working meeting in the Mayor's office, with participation of Knesset Members and Beit Shemesh city council members Moshe Montag and Shalom Edri, and with the participation of the relevant professional bodies: Construction and Housing Ministry Senior Marketing Department Director Binyamin Dreyfus, government company 'Apartment to Rent' CEO Uzi Levy, and other senior officials.
Mayor Abutbul opened the professional discussion and surveyed Beit Shemesh's accelerated development, being the city with the highest growth rate in the country. Twenty years ago the city's population stood at 17,000. Today, Beit Shemesh has more than 115,000 residents.
