Mobileye scraps planned Jerusalem tower for low-rise HQ — report
Municipality allows automotive chipmaker to alter design for 30-story building, campus to instead have only nine levels; reason for change not clear, Calcalist website says
Mobileye, a Jerusalem-based maker of technologies for self-driving cars, has altered a plan to build a complex including a 30-story tower in the capital, settling instead for a group of buildings that will reach no higher than nine floors, the Calcalist website reported Monday.
The campus, which is already under construction in the the Har Hotzvim industrial park, was originally supposed to have four buildings of 10 stories each as well as the 30-story tower, which would have been the capital’s second tallest building. The 135,000 square meter site was to serve as the company’s global headquarters.
However, Mobileye decided last year to amend the NIS 950 million ($274 million) plan for a more modest group of five buildings, each nine stories high, the report said. It is not known why the change was made.
The Jerusalem Municipality, which strongly backs what is a major construction project for the capital, allowed Mobileye to change its plan without inviting objectors to the project — of which there is reportedly just one — to attend the meeting.
The amended plan was approved last week by City Hall’s legal department although though some officials did have doubts and reservations about allowing the changes, the report said.
The foundation stone for the campus was already laid in 2017, at a ceremony with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. Construction began with the target to occupy the building was 2022.
Mobileye, which specializes in technology for self-driving cars, was bought by Intel in 2017 for $15.3 billion, one of the largest ever purchases of an Israeli company.
