A square deal

Netanya’s town center is undergoing a large renewal project to attract new visitors.

By MAURICE PICOW
Artist’s illustration of fully renovated Ha’atzmaut Sq. (photo credit: Courtesy of City Center Development Division)
Artist’s illustration of fully renovated Ha’atzmaut Sq.
(photo credit: Courtesy of City Center Development Division)
Following a series of terror attacks in 2002-03, including the one on Passover at the Park Hotel, Netanya’s central commercial area suffered from a serious loss of visitors to tourist locations like Ha’atzmaut Square, the Herzl Street Promenade, the central shopping district and the beachfront. In an effort to attract local residents and tourists back to the city, the Netanya municipality is in the midst of a large-scale urban renewal and “face-lift” project that, when completed, will turn the central section of this coastal city of more than 180,000 residents into a showcase for both locals and visitors alike.
The project, which has been going on for over a year, began on Krause, Hanotea and Tel Hai streets and is now centered at Ha’atzmaut Square. It continues along the pedestrian promenade to Dizengoff Street until it reaches Weizman and Binyamin boulevards, and will also include a renovation of the city’s shuk (outdoor market).
“Actually, the renovation work began originally in 1986 when the promenade was created from David Hamelech Street in the west to Dizengoff Street, when what was originally a thoroughfare on Herzl Street was closed and made into a promenade,” says Alvit Froind, project manager of the City Center Development Division of the Netanya Municipality, which is responsible for the renewal project.
Netanya’s main tourism attractions have long been its beachfront and Ha’atzmaut Square, which in former days was always full of visitors from throughout Israel as well as foreign tourists during the summer months.
The square was also a favorite hang out for UNIFIL troops when their contingent was located in northern Israel.
Numerous restaurants and coffee bars still ring the square, which also includes such landmarks as the Goldar Hotel and a large central fountain around which visitors strolled or simply hung out on warm summer evenings.
The tragic gas line explosion that occurred there in June 2011, killing three French girls on holiday and an Arab restaurant employee, has no connection with the renovation plans that had already been scheduled for this area for some time, says Froind.
“The old fountain in the square will be moved to a location near the park promenade at the end of Ha’atzmaut Square,” says Moti Pinhassi, who is in charge of local merchant relations for the renewal project. “It will be retained in its original form as much as possible, for sentimental reasons, to give people a memory of what it used to look like.”
The two-year project, which began last summer, will take another 14 months to complete and will cost more than NIS 100 million. The first part, involving Ha’atzmaut Square and the current promenade, will cost more than NIS 30 million, says Froind, who adds that an entirely new fountain will be located near the spot where the original one stood. The new fountain will be the first of its kind in Netanya, and will send out computer-synchronized jet streams of water that will be enhanced at night with colored lighting. Nearby, an “ecological pool” will contain aquatic plant life and tropical fish.
“The computerized fountain will be known technically as the Interactive Fountain, and large LED-lighted screen displays will let visitors know about upcoming attractions in Netanya,” says Froind.
The most important parts of the project are the ones in Ha’atzmaut Square and along Herzl Street, adds Pinhassi.
“These are the areas that Mayor [Miriam] Fierberg wants to restore the most. The municipality offices, most of which were relocated to Tzoran Street in southern Netanya, will return to the center of town and will be located next to the Cultural Center on Raziel Street,” he says. The section of the town center being renovated that Froind and Pinhassi’s division is involved in covers a six-block area beginning at Jerusalem Street in the south and stretching to Milhemet Sheshet Hayamim Street in the north and from Road No. 2 (the Coastal Highway) in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
The entire project has three parts: Part 1, including Krause and Hanote’a streets, is mostly completed. The Part 2 plan, which was begun in 2011, will be finished by next Independence Day or in May 2013,” says Pinhassi. “The entire plan, including Part 3 [Herzl Street from Dizengoff to Weizman and Binyamin Boulevards] should be completed by 2015.”
THE RENOVATIONS of Ha’atzmaut Square and the promenade are designed to be not only beautiful, but ecologically sustainable as well. Water used in the fountains and the fishpond will be continuously re-circulated and filtered to conserve water. Area lighting will be with energy-saving LED and fluorescent bulbs. “The fishpond is part of a nature corner for people to enjoy and use for relaxation and meditation,” says Froind.
When asked how this work is affecting area merchants, Pinhassi says: “Area merchants are participating in the project by installing updated signs and improving storefronts. They are encouraged to do this with the understanding that they will benefit by this investment in making their business more appealing. The municipality is investing around NIS 5m. in improving areas involving merchants’ businesses. They [the merchants] will benefit a lot when the work is done.”
Residents who work in the area have mixed reactions to the construction work being carried out. Yitzhak Hayoun, owner of the Tavas Coffee Bar at 8 Ha’atzmaut Square, which is popular with French immigrants and tourists, says, “The time has come to improve things here. It’s worth waiting for the project to be completed, despite present inconveniences.”
At the Batzal Yarok restaurant, a popular “morning coffee” establishment in Ha’atzmaut Square, waitress Noga says, “Yes, I think it will be a big improvement when it’s finished. The area didn’t look so nice before and this project will help a lot, even if it is now unpleasant due to the noise and dust from the construction crews.”
A not-so-favorable response came from David Kuter at Pundak Hayam, an old-time grill restaurant located at 1 Harav Kook Street just off the promenade.
“This is not the first time the city has done ‘renewal work’ here. It’s causing us a lot of problems, as people have difficulties coming to us due to the promenade being blocked off by the construction work,” he says. “People have run away from the center of Netanya due to the construction work – to places like Yachin Center, Ramat Poleg and Ir Yamim [malls].” He adds that “things have changed here in central Netanya, and not for the best.”
Pundak Hayam has been located in the same location off Herzl and Harav Kook streets since the mid-1960s, and was once one of the city’s most popular restaurants.
REAL ESTATE broker Eli Saadian of the central Netanya branch of Re/Max, says that Netanya has become less popular with tourists.
“I remember when all the foreign tourists used to come to Netanya [year-round], but they don’t come as much any more. It’s just too expensive for them to come to Israel – they go to other places like Greece and Turkey,” he says. He adds that during the Succot and Passover holidays and in the summer months, the area is packed with both locals and tourists, especially English and French.
“Before the work began, we felt an increased demand by people wanting to shop on or near Ha’atzmaut Square. People hope that after the work is done, more visitors will be attracted to the area and it will again be full of customers for the businesses there.”
Saadian recalls the onslaught of terror attacks in central Netanya in 2002 and 2003. “We had eight terror attacks during this period, and it was a very bad time for businesses here. But if businesses could endure that period, they can surely endure the construction work now going on as well. Even with this face-lift, however, the area will never be as popular as it was when I was a kid,” he says.
Avidan Yaari’s family has had a small electrical appliance and repair business on the Herzl Street promenade since even before Pundak Hayam opened.
When asked what the results of the work being done will be, he is more cautious. “First let’s wait to see what will happen when all the work is finished,” he says. “Now the city wants to close all the businesses in this area for a short period in order to do some work on the sidewalk. But when the work is finally finished, it is supposed to make the area more beautiful and orderly.
The city needs to do this work, as previously the area was not in step with the times.”
Yaari adds that people used to trip on the curbs due to the way the promenade was previously designed. A local passerby says, “You can see that Mayor Fierberg is trying to do a lot to improve this area – she is a real balabusta [hard worker].”
With regard to the problems caused to area businesses by the construction work, Pinhassi says: “The inconveniences caused by the work are not as bad as when the light rail line was being worked on in Jerusalem and when various renewal projects were under way in Tel Aviv.”
When asked if the goal is to attract people to the town center the way they are attracted to Tel Aviv, Froind says, “Netanya is different from Tel Aviv.
Only a few places are open in Netanya on Shabbat, such as non-kosher restaurants and coffee shops. But if the public wants more places to be open on Shabbat, then more businesses will be able to open in the town center.
However, we do not want Netanya to be like Tel Aviv’s nonstop city. We want this city to be like a Riviera resort location, where people can be more relaxed in a quieter atmosphere.”