The renewal plans in Nahariya indicate the tremendous development expected in the coming years. Attorney Oshri Shalosh, a well-known entrepreneur in the city and former chairman of the local planning and building committee, explains the secret of the northern city’s charm and asks the state to incentivize developers to come there – “especially on days like these.”
Nadlan Center
At the beginning of the year, the Northern District Committee approved the comprehensive plan to renew the city of Nahariya. The plan, which replaces the recently expired National Outline Plan 38, relates to all the city’s oldest neighborhoods and outlines various tracks for urban renewal—usually Pinui-Binui tracks—with a comprehensive and long-term urban vision. The plan proposes adding about 30,000 housing units—2.5 times the number of existing apartments in Nahariya today.
The comprehensive plan indicates the tremendous development expected for Nahariya in the coming decade and is also evidence of the city’s construction and renewal potential, most of whose residential buildings were built in the 1950s and 1960s.
“As in the rest of the country, Nahariya is also experiencing a trend of transition from regular construction projects to urban renewal projects, most of them complex projects,” says attorney Oshri Shalosh, who accompanies urban renewal projects throughout the country, including in the north, and himself owns an entrepreneurial company. However, he says, urban renewal in Nahariya is especially necessary: “Nahariya is at high risk of earthquakes, which makes urban renewal in its territory a necessity.
“The missile threat and Nahariya’s proximity to the border also provide invaluable security value for urban renewal. Finally, this city has recently attracted strong populations from all over the north, but most residents are still at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. True urban renewal, one that upgrades the quality of life and provides residents with new municipal infrastructure and public institutions, is the key to the social mobility that the residents of this city are so desperate for.”
Adv. Shalosh is a well-known figure throughout the northern region and in Nahariya. Between 2003 and 2008, he served as deputy mayor and chairman of the planning and building committee in Nahariya, where he was responsible, among other things, for promoting urban renewal, which was in its infancy. He also promoted one of the first evacuation-reconstruction projects in Israel, initiated by Kochav.
According to him, the most important milestone in Nahariya’s leap was the Second Lebanon War, which took place during Shalosh term as local committee chairman and placed the city at the forefront of the missile ranges. Many Tama 38 and Pinui-Binui projects have since been promoted in the city, and in addition to the protection they provided for the old apartments, they have also contributed significantly to doubling the number of residents over the past two decades.
For Shalosh, this enormous growth represents only a fraction of the potential inherent in the northern city: “In recent years, more and more Israelis are discovering Nahariya, and not only from the north. The tax benefits you get here, alongside a warm and enveloping population, are hard to find elsewhere. It is no coincidence that many households evacuated from the north found their place here, as well as many families who fled the war in Ukraine.
“This is the longest urban strip of sea in Israel, with a new marina approved two years ago. It is in the advanced planning stages and is expected to attract marine tourism here. The city is also enjoying a tremendous development momentum in terms of transportation infrastructure: doubling and electrifying the tracks of Israel Railways, for example, will shorten the travel time to Tel Aviv to only an hour. The Carmel Tunnels, the new Krayot bypass road, and the Acre bypass road are already significantly shortening the reach to the center of the country, and very soon, Highway 6 will also pass through the city so that the connection to Nahariya will be quick, and convenient.”
Shalosh also mentions the hospital in the city—Western Galilee Hospital—where Bar-Ilan University medical students study. Many of them remain to work at the hospital and live in Nahariya. In addition, he mentions that the Ben Ami Triangle will soon begin operating in Nahariya, the new employment area that already attracts companies and businesses from all over the country.
The new capital of the north
In light of all this and the growing demand for housing in the city, Shalosh is convinced that within 10 years, Nahariya’s population will double once more—on one condition: “The state must put its hand in its pocket and help entrepreneurs. Everyone understands the potential of this city, but if the state doesn’t make sure that the projects are economic, they simply won’t happen, which is a shame.
“In recent years, the Ministry of Housing has been marketing a lot of land in the city and its environs, and the Government Authority for Urban Renewal is also working to help. But if it is important to the state that the North flourishes, especially in times like these, much more needs to be done: To develop additional employment areas, to establish institutions of higher education, and especially to give entrepreneurs grants, supplementary land and tax benefits – all that will attract them to build and develop the city.
“I am very optimistic about Nahariya’s future,” concludes Shalosh. “This city, from which the beginning of Hebrew industry sprang and from which large and well-known companies such as Wertheimer, Zoglobeck, and Strauss came, is on the safe path to restoring its glory to its former glory. It’s just a matter of time.”
