Yielding real estate company Gav Yam officially declared the appointment of former CEO of Bank Mizrahi Tefahot, Eldad Fresher, to Chairperson of the Board. He formerly served as head of the financial division at Mizrahi Tefahot and Chairperson of Mizrahi Switzerland. He served as the bank’s CEO between August 2013 and September 2020 and was replaced by Moshe Lari. As stated, he will now serve as Chairperson of the Gav Yam Board of Directors, which continues to close giant deals despite the Corona crisis.

In addition, the company announced rental agreement valued at almost 200M NIS. The agreement was signed with Lighttricks, a hi-tech company from Jerusalem, which rented 16,000m² at the Gav Yam Hebrew Park currently under construction. The agreement is for 10 years at a total consideration of ~190M NIS. Gav Yam’s share is 66% – !12M NIS.

Construction of Gav Yam Hebrew Park has begun and, upon completion, it will consists of four buildings covering ~270,000n² on about 30 dunams of land reserves. The overall investment in constructing the park is estimated at ~1.4B NIS. Approximately 10,000 employees are expected to work at park once it is completed.

In September 2019, Gav Yam won the huge tender conducted by the Hebrew University for the construction and management of a hi-tech business park at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University as part of a combination transaction with the university. The cooperation between Gav Yam, headed by its CEO Avi Jacobovitz, Jerusalem Municipality and its mayor, Mr. Moshe Leon, the Jerusalem Development Authority headed by CEO Eyal Haimovsky and the Hebrew University, headed by President Prof. Asher Cohen,

At the signing ceremony, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon said: “We are at an exciting ceremony where Lighttricks is the first hi-tech company to enter the Gav Yam building being built in the capital.

To us, today’s signing is a vote of confidence and understanding of the developing hi-tech and biotech market in Jerusalem. We have been investing a great deal in hi-tech infrastructures and have been developing the Jerusalem economy at the same time. I believe that today is just the beginning and that Lighttricks is one of many to join the growing hi-tech industry in Jerusalem. Good luck to everyone”.

Avi Jacobovitz, Gav Yam CEO: “Today, we are signing the first rental agreement for Gav Yam Hebrew Park with Lighttricks. The park will change Jerusalem and leave its stamp on the city. The park will set a new standard, dimension and bar for the hi-tech industry in Jerusalem and in Israel. We are marking the Hebrew University of Jerusalem s the next hi-tech center in Israel.

Gav Yam considers the strategic partnership with leading academic institutions to be the next big thing, introducing hi-tech companies to the best human and technological capital.

In addition to the rental agreement with Lighttricks, the company is conducting initial negotiations with several other hi-tech companies that also wish to take part in the unique ecosystem currently developing at Gav Yam Hebrew Park.”

The agreement was signed in addition to other significant rental agreements that Gav Yam signed in recent weeks – one with one of the world’s hi-tech giants, covering ~30,000m² in Park Matam and two more with GE and GM, covering ~15,000m².”