Everything's Sky High In Tel Aviv Does Israel's tallest scyscraper bode well for Tel Aviv's skyline? TANIA HERSHMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS T he corner of Derech Petah Tikva and Rehov Harakevet bustles under the spring sunlight. From dawn to dusk, delivery boys on scooters weave their way through heavy traffic while businesspeople dressed in suits and ties scramble to and from their offices to make the next deal, broker the next transaction or do the next busi- ness lunch. You could be in any commercial center in the world, except for one glaring distinction: In Tel Aviv, meetings, international conference calls and online global commu- nications are still conducted behind old, dilapidated, white- washed facades that are rarely more than three stories high. But slowly, Israel's Mediter- ranean metropolis is beginning to resemble the Big Apple as tall, post-modem buildings sprout where Bauhaus-inspired creations once stood. In 21/2 years, the city's largest skyscraper, called Migdal Levenstein, will emerge from the rubble, offering views far out into the Mediterranean on the west and deep into the territories on the east. For 50 years, Meshulam Lev- enstein has been building Tel Aviv. From medical centers, police stations, post offices and apart- ment blocks to sewage works and the Daliesque building on Ha- yarkon Street affectionately re- ferred to as the "Crazy House," Meshulam Levenstein. Contract- ing and Engineering Ltd. has made its mark on the landscape. Mr. Levenstein, 78, will now leave his mark on the skyline, naming it after his father, a Russ- ian immigrant who landed in Palestine in 1905 and became the country's first chocolate and can- dy manufacturer. Migdal Levenstein, a 37-story office building currently rising at a rate of one floor per month, will be located five minutes from Migdal Shalom, on Petah Tikva Road, one of the city's main. arter- ies. Off the Ayalon freeway, the building is located near the cen- t" al bus station as well as the city's business and financial centers. When it is completed, Israel's tallest office building, which will cover an area of 10,000 square feet, will also boast six floors of under- ground parking offering 800 spaces. Behind its mirrored face, this concrete phoenix will offer scores of office space, a luxurious lobby, a "New York-style" restaurant, an espresso bar and a fully equipped health club and gym. Mr. Levenstein, who would have built a 60-story building if the Airports Authority would have allowed it, said two floors, or 2,000 square meters, of the building have been sold to date for $1.5 mil- lion per 500 square meters. Mr. Levenstein, a British-edu- cated engineer, says this plan, like his previous ones, does not reflect a vision but his recog- nition of the country's needs. "I don't think I personally had a vision," he says, referring to his early days as a builder. "We were driven by the flow of immigration. As it developed, we had to adjust ourselves to what was required." Still, the most notable, let alone visible, import Mr. Levenstein helped bring to Israel is the sky- scraper. For a metropolis like Tel Aviv, where businesses are crav- ing more space, the only way is up, he says, commending municipal planners who concluded that the only way to preserve greenery and ventilation between the city's buildings is by significantly rais- ing the height limits. But his praise is mixed with ap- prehension as questions still re- main regarding Tel Aviv's architectural future. Will the com- mercial capital of the Middle East resemble Brazilia, Brazil's splen- did, well-planned financial hub, or Hong Kong, where a jungle of sky- scrapers suffocates the patrons be- low in a maze of steel and glass? 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