עמוד 1

As itgrows, Shoham isat risk of losing itssmall-town flavor

The town isthe embodiment of the Israeli dream: cottagewith yard short drive from Tel Aviv But for how much longer

lion shekels. Real Estate 201 "At first, buyers were mainly people from Sho- ham. Only later did people their own homes. come from other towns, NimrodKl w\tmrk DmBousso■ctets building Even so, buyers are lin- such as Rishon Letzion, Ask 10 random Israelisto ing up to buy piece of Yehud, and describe their dream home, Shoham. The firsthomes in ," says Omri Avrahami, and most will say it's Kramim, which Gindi Hold- sales manager of Avisror's house with yard in com- ings is building,went on project in Kramim. He munity with good schools sale in the summer of ,2102says pricesin Shoham are that's an easy commuting initiallylimited to Shoham beyond the reach of most to Tel Aviv. This trifecta residents.Four-room apart- first-timehome buyers,and of Israeli middle-class as- ments were offered for 5.1 the market targets people pirationssounds lot like million shekels (around who want somethingbigger Shoham, town southeast )000,004$but by 2015 the or nicer than their present of Tel Aviv at the junction average price had soared home. of Routes and .6 by one-third, to million "Shoham is status sym- Ithas small-town, com- shekels. Nevertheless, all bol and peoplecoming here munity-orientedfeel,while the homes were sold. from Yehud or Petah Tikva still being big enough to second, 64-apart- feel they're significantly offer most of the services ment project,being built upgrading,"Avrahami says, found in bedroom commu- by Avisror Mo she Sons, adding,"Very few people nities high school and is in its second phase.The can afford to pay mil- middle school, shopping last, and biggest,project lion shekels for their first centers and Scouts. If you in Kramim has 200 apart- home." have the money, you can ments. The developer is Kramim is built as have itallin Shoham. Meshulam Levinstein square surrounding 24-du- Shoham's popularity, Contractingand Engineer- nam (6-acre) park with however, is undermining ing Group. sales office playgrounds,fitness equip- many of the things that opened in February, and ment and outdoor sculpture. have made it so appealing, units beingsold at an intro- Nearby is yeshivaas well as single-family homes ductorydiscount. The ask- as girls'religiousschool, and duplexesare joinedby ingpricefor three-room, for the %02of the residents apartment buildings.There 80-square-meterapartment who are religiousas well are no soaringhigh-rises, with 20-square-meterter- as children from religious but even six buildingsof six race, parkingand storage families in smaller nearby stories the tallestbeing room is 8.1million shekels. communities. shopping builtnow in Kramim, new four-room, 116-square- center is being built at the area in the northeastern meter garden apartment edge of the new neighbor- part of town are chang- with 100-square-meter hood. ing the face of Shoham. Of yard and 50-square-meter "Educational standards the 670 residential units basement that can be con- here are high, there's planned for Kramim, only verted to separate unit strong sense of community 38 are single-familyhouses carried price tag of 6.2 and it'sclose to the Airport on lots sold by the million shekels, while five- Citybusiness center, which Land Authority to people room units go for 58.2mil employsmany people,"says עמוד 2

Sharon Ben Zvi,VP market- the end of 2014 the popula- Yaakov Yarkoni, officials In any case, Yarkoni are nearby,there are drive- ing and sales of Levinstein tion had reached 000,02 have reached an agreement says, residents would op- time bottlenecks at Sho- Group,by way of explaining and that was before people with developersto reduce pose any additional massive ham's two main entrances. part of Shoham's attraction. began moving intoKramim. the plan to 002,1units in projects. new train station at Some locals call for cap- buildingsnot more than six "Peoplewant to maintain the nearby El Al junction Runningout of land pingthe expansionin order storieshigh. the small-community char- is planned,but it will take to preserve Shoham's small- Will the two new neigh- acter of this placewith its at least 10 years before it's The plans for Shoham town character. Plans were borhoods turn Shoham into high qualityof life.When operable.In the meantime, were drawn up longbefore submitted in fast-track an urban community, or I'm asked what the great some of Shoham's commut- the ground was broken, in zoning process in Decem- even into city? advantage of Shoham is ers are car-poolingin order .3991Members of nearby ber for an additional neigh- Yarkoni doesn't think so. replythat it'sthe fact that to use the high-occupancy moshavim sought to ere- borhood, twice as big as "Shoham won't become every resident, regardless vehicle fast lane into Tel ate new rural community Kramim. It calls for 006,1citybecause it can onlyac- of where he lives,isno more Aviv. for the adult children of apartments in buildingsup commodate an additional than 10 minutes' walk Yarkoni says key part farmers in the cooperative to eight stories high plus 000,8residents. These two from open green fields. of the city'snegotiations settlements. But nothing 200 assisted-livingapart- neighborhoodsoccupy the This is what constitutes with the zoning board re- happened for several years, ments. last open land within the the highqualityof lifehere volved around the approval untilAriel Sharon, who was The plan has already community's borders, be- and peoplewon't agree to of plansthat are contingent minister of housing and met up with opposition,in- yond which are the lands relinquishthat," explains on improved transportation construction from 1990 to eludingthat of the Shoham of the moshavim surround- Yarkoni. in the area, such as by con- ,2991put bigger,more am- , which says ing it,with militarybase An additional concern is vertingthe adjacentRoute bitious planinto place.The the dense construction is on the southern side. So the abilityof the localtrans- 444 into dual-lane high- firstphase consisted of 300 incompatiblewith the com- can't see any construction portationinfrastructure to way for itsentire length.So owner-built homes. But Sho- munity'scharacter. Accord- extending beyond these handle populationgrowth. far no agreement has been ham grew so rapidlythat by ing to the town engineer confines," he says Even thoughRoutes and reached on this issue