Planned ‘Jerusalem Burj’ skyscraper draws opposition over proximity to landmarks
200 objections lodged against plans for 200-meter tower, designed by Burj Khalifa architect’s firm, to overlook Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl military cemetery; would be capital’s tallest building
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
Around 200 organizations and individuals have objected to a Jerusalem city council plan for a 200-meter-high tower in the west of the city that would overlook the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center and the IDF cemetery on Mount Herzl.
The tower, which, if built, would be the highest in the capital, has been designed by a US-based architecture firm, one partner of which led the team that designed the famous Burj Khalifa in Dubai — the world’s tallest building.
The Jerusalem Municipality described the project as a “groundbreaking plan, with a unique architectural design, befitting the significant location of the project.”
But Deputy Mayor Yossi Havilio, a frequent critic of municipal planning who ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Mayor Moshe Lion earlier this year, is leading a campaign to stop its construction.
Havilio said such a privately funded project, visible far and wide, would be “an insult” to the adjacent national institutions, as well as the picturesque neighborhood of Ein Kerem on the western outskirts of the city. The latter, home to several Christian institutions, attracts tourists of all kinds because of its old stone houses and winding alleyways.
The deputy mayor also charged that apartments for “another 200 rich people” would not solve the city’s housing shortage.
If approved, the building would stand 200 meters high (655 feet), with 42 stories — translating to an average height per story of 4.75 meters (15.5 feet). It would include around 240 residential units (48 of them small), a 9,000-square-meter (97,000-square-foot) hotel, and public areas totaling 5,000 square meters (53,800 square feet), to include an outdoor plaza and four underground stories.
It would be located on the ridge of a hill on a 7-dunam (1.7-acre) plot known as the Epstein compound, close to Alexander Caldwell’s iconic red sculpture, “Homage to Jerusalem.”
The tower would sit on a light rail route, along which the municipality has a policy of allowing buildings of up to 30 stories.
The city decided against an alternative plan from the same architecture firm for two towers each of around 30 stories, because that design had less public space and no observation deck.
Among the individuals who have protested against the plan is Sigalit Betzaleli, whose daughter, IDF officer Hila Betzaleli, was killed in April 2021 at the Mount Herzl cemetery when a lighting rig collapsed during an Independence Day ceremony rehearsal.
Yad Labanim, a nationwide organization that memorializes fallen soldiers and supports their families, has also submitted an objection to the plan. In a letter, the organization writes that the very idea of such a tower next to the cemetery where more than 2,800 of Israel’s fallen are buried was already causing “serious harm” to the sensitivities of the bereaved families, and would be a mark of disrespect.
“These are sad and difficult days for the people of Israel,” the letter went on, “among the hardest the state has known since its establishment. We must not add to [the burden of] the grieving families.”
The structure was designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture. Smith headed the team that built Dubai’s Burj Khalifa while working for another company, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. At 828 meters (2,717 feet), it is the tallest building in the world.
Rivka Gutman of the Architects Association, which also opposed the project, drew attention to Jerusalem’s lack of a statutory citywide plan. The most recent statutory plan, Plan 62, dates back to 1959.
Municipal sources explain that legal approval of a more up-to-date plan is too difficult, given the city’s complexity and the competing interests of its diverse communities.
Much time and money was invested in the so-called Plan 2000, which is still referred to when relevant.
However, it has not been legally approved and it never dealt with the kind of massive urban renewal that is turning much of the capital into a building site, as it tries to keep up with population growth and targets set by the national government.
Instead of updating a citywide plan, the municipality prefers to develop plans on different subjects, such as green spaces, or employment areas. It is working on master plans for the various neighborhoods.
City officials insist that while plans are submitted for specific buildings or complexes of buildings on a point-by-point basis, much wider factors are taken into account when deciding whether to approve a project.
However, according to Gutman, “rather than the private market being managed within the framework of a single, orderly plan, determined by the planning authority, it’s the private market that leads planning and all sorts of irregular projects result.”
Gutman added: “Without strategic planning and a worthy statutory master plan, expressing a vision for the development of infrastructure in the city that also protects its uniqueness, we won’t be able to preserve the quality of life for the residents of Jerusalem and its status as a unique city by world standards.״
“Instead, Jerusalem has no up-to-date, professional, multi-dimensional statutory master plan that can serve as a basis for assessing the urban implications of the city’s decisions,” she said.
Gutman noted that even Plan 2000 defined the location of the Epstein complex as one that should not be intensively built on.
The plan for the tower was approved by the local Jerusalem planning committee earlier this year and deposited with the Jerusalem district planning committee, which opened it for public objection. The objection window closed at the end of February, and the district committee will need to hear and discuss the objections before deciding whether to approve the project.
