User:Segnos/Israel Airport City

Airport City

Location of Airport City in Israel

Airport city (hebrew: איירפורט סיטי , also known as "Kiryat airport" ) is a high-tech business and industrial park under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council, located east of near Ben-Gurion Airport. The name of the place was chosen due to its close proximity to the Airport, and it is owned by Airport City Ld. The land for the construction of the business park was purchased from Moshav Bareket.

History[edit]

In April 1997 the construction of The Airport City began, after the designation of the land was changed from agriculture, and in 2001, the creation of the project began.

The park covers an area of 750 dunam, its length is about 850 meters (2788.71 feet) from east to west and its maximum width is about 800 meters (2624.67 feet) from north to south. The main entrance to it is from road 453 to the south of the Airport city, which connects Ben-Gurion Airport and the city of Shoham. Airport City has many areas and buildings accumulating a total area of approximately 420,000 square meters intended to be rented for commercial industry, storage of information and offices, as well as a debate center with a built-up area of 4,300 square meters, in addition to restaurants and catering areas. A large hotel hall with 250 rooms is also planned to be built within the city but has yet to be created. The Airport City is connected by public transportation lines to the major cities in the center of the country, as well as a bus transportation services operated by Egged company, which connects it to the nearby airport and surrounding towns.

*needs translation* (list of companies who are working at the site).

The city contains as well the cultural hall of the region of Hevel Modi'in, the cultural hall contains a theater hall, concerts and various performances. The hall includes an "Avenue" congress and event center as well. There is a house of Chabad on the site that operates as the city's synagogue. The house teaches Torah classes and does activities on holidays for the benefit of the employees and visitors of the place.

One of the main reasons for the complex's appeal to various companies is a significantly lower property tax rate (paid to the Hevel Modi'in Regional Council) compared to the rate of property tax paid in the central cities, and this is due to the small population in the area of the regional council, compared to the major cities (in Israel, property tax for businesses subsidizes municipal services for residents, and a small number of residents allows for a reduction of the property tax from large commercial and industrial areas, such as the Airport city). On this background complaints arose from nearby cities (mainly Lod) demanding that the property tax revenues of the complex be shared with the city. In 2014, an inspection committee decided that the property tax revenues in the complex would not be partially transferred to the municipality of Lod, however Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar opposed the conclusions and vetoed the decision upon the cancellation of the transfer.