http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/
Jaffa police building to be converted to hotel
The developer who wins the tender will be permitted to expose lower floors in the building that were buried in the process of time.
Ron Paz 21 Apr 05 14:20
A historic building on Yefet St., near the Clock Tower in Jaffa, which has been used as a police station for years, will be vacated in the coming weeks. The police station will be moved to a new building on Salame St., and the site will be marketed for a luxury hotel. The Israel Land Administration and the Jaffa local administration will market the building in two months as a 200-250-room boutique hotel. Under the Urban Building Plan (UBP), construction rights in the building total 6,000 sq.m.
Converting the building to a hotel is part of a general plan by the Jaffa local administration, the Tel Aviv municipality’s agency responsible for development of Jaffa, to develop tourism in the Clock Tower area. The Clock Tower square was the center of Jaffa during the period of the Ottoman Empire. It includes the historic governor’s building, which will become a center for Turkish culture in Israel, in a joint venture with the Turkish embassy.
Jaffa local administration director general Dror Amir said that the hotel will be branded as a boutique hotel in the same style as the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, with a unusually styled patio. He said the hotel would benefit from its proximity to the sea, the Jaffa flea market, and the Jaffa port. Amir added that the developer winning the tender for the site will be given the right to expose the building’s cellar. The building is known to have floors that have been buried in the process of time.
The building is one of the oldest in Jaffa. Built during the seventeenth century by the Ottoman rulers, it has been used as a jail, a prison, and an execution facility. The British used it for the same purpose, imprisoning members of Jewish underground organization Irgun Zva’i Leumi (national military organization) there during the British mandate. The building was converted into a police station after the state of Israel was declared, and used to hold detainees. The most important was Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann, who was held there for two months.
Building rights will be added to the three-storey building, but towards the west, not in height. The building’s Yefet St. façade will be preserved. The building’s northern façade and gate have already been renovated and preserved.
The detention cell in which Eichmann was held is within the hotel compound, but how it will be used has not yet been decided. Amir said, “It’s reasonable to assume that Eichmann’s cell will not be converted into a honeymoon suite.”