Aroma Israel to open hotel in Haifa

Café chain to build 45-room boutique hotel together with entrepreneur who purchased Templar building for preservation in northern city's German Colony. Total investment: NIS 15 million

Reuters | Published: 10.06.09, 08:39

Aroma Israel is planning to construct a boutique hotel in a building for preservation purchased at Haifa's German Colony. The Templar building, dating back to the 1930s, has two and a half floors.

According to the plan, which has yet to be approved by Haifa's local committee for planning and construction and requires the approval of the district committee as well, the building will be preserved and another structure will be built next to it and connected to it.

Aroma Israel has a division involved in real estate, and this will be its first realty project.

The hotel is slated to include 45 rooms on a total area of 1,580 square meters (17,007 square feet). The building had served in the past as a private residence and remained desolate and neglected for many years.

The structure was recently bought by a private entrepreneur with whom Aroma Israel joined forces for this project. The total investment in the project is estimated at NIS 15 million ($4 million).

Schumacher Hotel

The hotel is slated to be called Schumacher Hotel, after the Templar family which had lived in the building. The new city building plan seeks to change the determination of the land, which stretches over 659 square meters, from a residence to a hotel. The Dagan Mochly architects' office is in charge of the project's planning.

In accordance with the government's policy to give preference to tourism in Haifa, the entrepreneurs plan to approach the Tourism Ministry and ask for a grant of up to 24% of the NIS 15 million for the hotel's construction.

According to the local Haifa project outline, the German Colony area is slated to serve as a tourism site. Nitsba Holdings is also planning a 200-room hotel in the area, which has already been approved by the planning committee.

Aroma Israel has recently begun branching out into other directions apart from its café chain in Israel. In the past two years it has opened more than 10 coffee shops in the United States, Ukraine, Cyprus and Romania. The company also set up a pastry factory in Ukraine. Aroma Israel won a bid for the operation of a local radio station in Jerusalem.