Ramat Aviv Mall (Hebrew: ) is an upscale shopping mall at 40 Einstein Street, in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel. At a rent of $1,804 per square meter, it is Israel's most expensive mall and the 35th most expensive mall in the world. It houses many renowned international fashion brands including Louis Vuitton, Emporio Armani, Montblanc, H. Stern, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Tumi, Longchamp, Tag heuer, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Rolex, Nespresso, Hugo Boss and many others."Ramat Aviv is Israel's most expensive mall". Ynet. 2 October 2010. Its gross leasable area is and it has 140 stores in two retail floors.Chayut, Ilanit. "עזריאלי בראש, מלחה שני". Globes. 8 November 2010. Above the shopping is an office building called Ramat Aviv Mall Tower.. Emporis. The entire project—tower and mall—has a gross area of about The mall is valued at 1.699 billion shekels, or 470 million dollars.

History The plan to construct the mall was announced in 1989.Rosenberg, Daviv. . Jerusalem Post. 6 January 1989. This plan was met with hostility by the residents of Ramat Aviv, who feared that the mall would damage their quality of life.Sommer, Allison Kaplan. "Ramat Aviv Mall opens". Jerusalem Post. 15 September 1997. Betsy Winer, of the Jerusalem Post, wrote, "I was opposed to its [the mall's] construction in the first place, citing it as an ugly, unnecessary eyesore - the product of greedy, rapacious entrepreneurs, and having no place in a residential area."Betsy, Winer. "The Ramat Aviv Mall" Jerusalem Post. 4 April 1997. Therefore, in 1992, some 30 residents submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Israel to prevent Meqarqee Mercaz Ltd., the company which was going to build the mall, from receiving a license to build a shopping mall in Ramat Aviv. This caused a delay of more than a year in constructing the mall and Meqarqee Mercaz sued the residents, claiming damages of approximately $3–5 million from them. Construction of the mall began on October 11, 1993.Olpiner, Dovrat. "חוות דעת של מומחה שומת נכס - קניו "אביב" ונכסים סמוכים רח' איינשטיין, רח' ברזיל, תל אביב". Greenberg Olpiner & Co.. 21 May 2007

In November 1996, Lev Leviev, an Orthodox Jewish diamond merchant, became the controlling shareholder of Africa Israel, which owned 74% of Meqarqee Mercaz.Beck, Galit Lipkis. . Jerusalem Post. 4 March 1997Strasler, Nehemia. . Jerusalem Post. March 5, 1997. Although he first said that "he would not let religious considerations influence the management of the company", in March 1997 he declared that the mall would be closed on Sabbath and he required the restaurants in it to be kosher.Derfner, Larry. . Jerusalem Post. March 7, 1997. This caused a major controversy and led to protests from Omri Padan, head of McDonald's Israel, from Israel Theaters, and from the residents of Ramat Aviv. Padan's and Israel Theaters' contracts allowed them to operate on weekendsYudelman, Michal. "Business as usual in Tel Aviv". Jerusalem Post. March 15, 1997. and the residents claimed that Leviev's decision violated the secular character of their neighborhood.Keinon, Herb. . Jerusalem Post. March 18, 1997. Roni Milo, the mayor of Tel Aviv, even called for a boycott of the shopping mall and Dan Darin, the deputy mayor, stated that the city would not grant Africa Israel new building permits if they were to close the mall on weekends. This caused Africa Israel's stock to drop by 20 percent."Israeli Franchisee Fights To Stay Open On Sabbath". The Seattle Times. March 23, 1997. On May 7, 1997, Africa Israel decided to allow the McDonald's restaurant in the mall to be non-kosher.Levin, Elazar. "Africa Israel to Permit McDonald’s to Open Non-Kosher Restaurant in Ramat-Aviv Mall" . Globes. May 7, 1997. The mall and the office building above it opened on September 5, 1997."קניון רמת-אביב נפתח מחר לתקופת הרצה". Globes. September 4, 1997 An arbitrator, Dov Levin, a retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice, was given the right to decide whether or not the cinemas and the restaurants would open on Sabbath. He ruled that they would remain closed because the Tel Aviv bylaws, although rarely enforced, state that entertainment spots and eateries must close on Sabbath. The controversy actually pleased the other store owners, who, because of the mass exposure of the mall, profited more than they expected.Sandler, Neal. . BusinessWeek. December 22, 1997.

In 2006, the McDonald's branch in the mall became kosher. The decision was initiated by McDonald's itself.Goldstein, Tani. "McDonalds in Ramat Aviv goes kosher". Ynet. September 11, 2006. In late 2007, the administration of the mall announced that it was going to close down the Lev Cinema. This led to some protests.Ofek, Dorit. . Jerusalem Post. December 21, 2007.Oren, Nili. "אין להם לב". Nana 10. 9 December 2007 On its place some stores were built, including the first Apple store in Israel.Hoffman, Tzahi. "Apple opens first Israeli store". Globes. 22 September 2008. In April 2009, Africa Israel, which owned 73.4% of the mall, sold its part to Melisron, a company owned by the Ofer Brothers Group, for 1.5 billion shekels. The insurance company Migdal owns the remaining 26.6%."אפריקה מוכרת את קניון רמת-אביב וקניון סביונים למליסרון לפי שווי של 1.74 מיליארד שקל". Globes. 7 April 2009.

Description of the mall

Ramat Aviv Mall stretches on an area of . This area includes the retail areas, the office areas, the underground and upper parking lots, and the public spaces and parks surrounding the mall."מליסרון בע"מ - דוחות כספיים ליום 30 יוני 2009" . Magna - Distribution Site. June 30, 2009. The main entrance of the mall is in Einstein Street 40, and there are two other entrances in Brazil Street and in Brodetsky Street. Approximately 24,000 people visit the mall each day"קניון רמת אביב". Kenyonim.com. and it is considered one of the most successful shopping malls in Israel, if not the most successful.. The Marker. 16 August 2009. Moshe Rosenblum, Chief Executive Officer of British Israel Investments, the leading property company in Israel in the field of shopping malls and commercial centers, said: "They [Melisron Ltd.] bought the best mall in Israel. We did not see another way to significantly increase the returns of the mall, so we decided not to acquire it."

About 140 stores operate in the shopping mall. There are a few anchor stores— including Super-Pharm, and Zara and more. The fashion stores Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Lululemon Athletica opened their first stores in Israel in Ramat Aviv Mall. Food companies in the mall include Grand Café, Arcaffe, Café Albert, Mimi Su and McDonald's.

The parking lot contains about 1,550 parking spaces. There are also about 200 parking spaces on the roof of the mall. About 7,200 people use the parking lot each day. Ramat Aviv Mall also has an area of about of offices, located primarily in the medical center and in the office building above the mall. The medical center is located on the third floor of the mall and has an area of about . It includes therapy rooms, surgery rooms and resting rooms. The office building, with 15 floors and a height of , comprises an area of about . The embassies of Norway,"Embassy and Consulates". Norway - the official site in Israel. Finland,"Embassy and residence".Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. and Croatia"קרואטיה". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. are situated in the building, along with law firms."נכסים מניבים - קניון רמת אביב" . Ofer Brothers Group

References

External links

Official site