Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the state-owned Israeli weapons developer, has purchased 6.5 floors of office space in the Cosmopolitan development project in central Tel Aviv for approximately NIS 521 million (around $150 million), the company confirmed this week.
The space was acquired as part of a relocation agreement with the Israel Land Authority (ILA), which will see Rafael vacate its long-standing operations hub at the Horodetsky complex in eastern Tel Aviv. The new offices will be located in Phase 1 of the Cosmopolitan project, situated at the intersection of HaMasger Street and Yisrael Tal Street in the Yitzhak Sadeh district—formerly known as Hassan Arafa.
Cosmopolitan is a large-scale mixed-use development led by developers Acro Real Estate, Phoenix Holdings, City Boy and Shevet Moshe Properties.
Once completed, the 4.2-acre site will include four towers combining residential, commercial, office and educational facilities surrounding a central urban park. The total area will feature approximately 175,000 square meters of office and retail space, 40,000 square meters of residential units—over 500 apartments—and a 5,000-square-meter educational facility. Underground parking will span 77,000 square meters with thousands of spaces for cars and bicycles.
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Phase 1 of the project, where Rafael will be based, covers 2.5 acres and includes two towers: a 100,000-square-meter office tower and a mixed-use tower with 334 residential units. Phase 2, currently in the advanced design stage, will add two more towers at the northwestern corner of the site, near the Maariv Junction, with one designated for offices and the other primarily residential, offering 170 apartments.
Cosmopolitan 1 was designed by the Israeli architecture firm MYS Architects, while Cosmopolitan 2 is being designed by Yashar Architects. Interior public spaces are being handled by architect Vered Gindi. The site lies adjacent to Tel Aviv’s Carlebach light rail station, which connects the city’s red and green lines.
Rafael’s move comes amid its rapid national expansion. “Our development center in Tel Aviv supports top talent dedicating their research to Israel’s security,” the company said in a statement. “We’ve partnered with the Israel Land Authority to vacate the Horodetsky site, where Rafael operated for decades, and we are reinvesting the proceeds into expanding our activity in the center of the country.”
In 2022, the ILA approved plans to rezone the Horodetsky site for residential and commercial use. The 32-acre area, located on a hill 40 meters above sea level, will be redeveloped to include 800 housing units across 18 mid-rise buildings and one 25-story tower, along with 15,000 square meters of office space and 5,500 square meters for retail.
Developers of the Cosmopolitan project welcomed Rafael’s arrival. “Rafael’s choice to join Cosmopolitan is a vote of confidence not just in the project, but in the Yitzhak Sadeh district as Tel Aviv’s emerging hub,” the development consortium said in a joint statement. “This is more than just towers—it’s a new urban vision that connects people, ideas, communities and innovation in a vibrant, integrated space.”