After nearly 100 years of operation at the same site, one of Israel’s most storied bakeries will make way for a new chapter: high-rise housing. The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee this week approved plans to redevelop the former Angel Bakery complex in Givat Shaul into a large-scale residential project.
The plan calls for 960 apartments in towers of up to 35 stories, built over five floors of commercial and office space. The site will also include a school, public open space and a mix of apartment sizes, with 20% designated as small units. The development, designed by Moshe Tzur Architects and led by Kanfei Ruach Building Jerusalem Ltd., is located at the western entrance to the Givat Shaul business district, along the green line of the city’s light rail.
The 18-dunam (4.5-acre) site had housed Angel Bakery since the 1920s. In 2021, the Angel family sold the property to investors, and in 2022 the bakery ceased operations there, clearing the way for the site’s redevelopment.
The project joins a wave of renewal in the area, including the neighboring “City of the World” complex being built on the site of a former flour mill. That development features 360 apartments, extensive commercial space and public buildings.
The transformation follows a 2022 update to Givat Shaul’s master plan that permits residential use in zones formerly reserved for industry, hospitality and commerce.
Redevelopment expands elsewhere
Elsewhere in Jerusalem, the committee approved redevelopment plans for the historic President Hotel, a 1950s-era building that has stood vacant since the late 1980s. The plan includes 300 apartments in four buildings, preservation of the hotel for public use and retail frontage. Two additional floors of rental housing will be constructed above the preserved hotel structure.
In Holon, near Tel Aviv, a major urban renewal plan was approved for Yoseftal Boulevard at the city’s entrance. The 70-dunam (17-acre) project includes 1,620 new housing units, 160,000 square meters of commercial and employment space, and 100,000 square meters for public facilities, including a future government complex. The site is near major train and light rail stations and will serve as a key transportation hub. A portion of the housing will be reserved for small apartments.
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In Ramat Hasharon, the committee approved a smaller-scale redevelopment in the Reines neighborhood that will replace 104 aging apartments with 270 new units in mid- and high-rise buildings. Ten percent of the apartments will be very small, and 30% will be small. The plan also includes retail space and a public facility.
Separately, 2,500 land parcels will be offered to military reservists in southern Israel, though 1,000 of those are located in low-demand areas. In Bat Yam, officials approved a 200-unit residential project advanced by a company that had entered insolvency.