US, Canadian investors fund earthquake retrofit projects

How do you say “National Outline Plan 38 Retrofitting of Structures against Earthquakes” in French? It appears that for Montreal’s Tidan Hospitality and Real Estate Group, it doesn’t matter – the main thing is that it creates penthouses in Tel Aviv.

Tidan, together with several US and Canadian investors, invested $200 million in Kriger Real Estate Innovations ltd. the sum is unprecedented in that niche in the industry.

Kriger focuses on strengthening buildings under the plan, specifically in the Tel Aviv area.

Under these projects, a developer is allowed to add one or more floors onto a building, and can sell the new apartments on the open market. This is in return for strengthening the building’s earthquake preparedness. Generally, existing residents of the building get the improved structure, elevators installed, and new porches and safety rooms for each apartment.

After several years in which the plan did not take off, as contractors claimed it was not economical in most areas of the country, the plan has attracted the interest of a foreign company.

Tidan has about 3 million square meters of commercial and industrial space, and has over 1,000 employees. the company owns malls, about 2,000 residential units, including luxury ones, and hotels with a total of 1,800 rooms.

For Kriger, the current funding comes two years after it raised $100 million from a group of private investors.

Kriger CEO Gal Hershkowitz told “Globes”, “Every Jew would want a penthouse in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.”

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on September 16, 2010