The plan, in plain English.

Speak the plan: the glossary

The Hebrew you will meet in every article, contract, and sales office — translated once, properly.

Rovaרובע

Israeli planners use rova for a city district. Rova Sde Dov is the official and marketing name for the ~1,500-dunam neighborhood replacing Dov Hoz airport. When a brochure says "the district," this is the unit it means — not a single tower or complex.

Mitchamמתחם

The masterplan divides the district into three complexes: Mitcham Eshkol (south, named for Levi Eshkol Street), Mitcham Merkaz (central), and Mitcham Tzafon (north). "Mitcham Einstein" is the pocket near Einstein Street. In the south, Eshkol is also called Shchunat Eshkol — the Eshkol neighborhood. Projects, tenders, and light-rail stations are all described by complex.

Migrashמגרש

Each migrash is a development lot with its own unit count and skyline rules. Eshkol residential lots are numbered 101–111; employment and commerce lots 301–306; public lots in the 400s (409 is schools). Central lots are in the 2200s (2207, 2208, 2226, 2270); North lots in the 3100s (3101, 3105, 3106). A project page that says "lot 101" is naming its migrash.

Gush / Chelkaגוש / חלקה

Every piece of land in Israel sits in a gush (block) and chelka (parcel). Marketing sites rarely quote the raw numbers, but a sale contract and the Tabu (land registry) always will. Treat a gush/chelka pair as the official reference, not as the marketing lot number (migrash), which is a planning overlay.

The Big Blocהגוש הגדול

HaGush HaGadol is a historic block of private parcels that sat inside the airport fence, owned by families for generations. A court finished the rights table for 1,892 owners in September 2025. Eshkol lots 102, 105, and 108 are the "private landowners" plots that come from it — they were not sold by the Israel Land Authority.

TA/3700תא/3700

Plan TA/3700 is the wider coastal outline approved in July 2012, covering about 1,900 dunams of the northwest Tel Aviv shore. Sde Dov sits inside that envelope. An outline plan (tochnit meta'ar) sets the big numbers; later detailed plans divide it into complexes and lots.

TA/4444תא/4444

Plan TA/4444 is the district plan for Rova Sde Dov, validated in March 2020: about 16,000 homes (including ~6,900 inclusive-housing units), public buildings, employment, commerce, hotels, parks, and two kilometres of beach. Every later design plan and building permit has to fit inside it.

Michrazמכרז

State land in Sde Dov is sold through RAMI tenders (michrazim). The municipality runs its own tenders for city-owned lots such as 306. A combination deal (iskat kombinatzia) is different: the landowner is paid in finished apartments instead of cash. Bid results are public; they are the source of the ₪4.4B (2021) and ~40% cheaper (2025) headlines.

RAMIרמ"י

RAMI (Rashut Mekarka'ei Yisrael) is the national land authority. It issued the 2021 Eshkol housing tenders and the 2024–2025 Central and North mega-tenders. Winning a RAMI tender buys the development rights on a migrash, not a finished apartment — the developer still needs a design plan and a building permit.

Combination dealעסקת קומבינציה

In a combination deal the developer builds on privately owned land and the owner receives a share of the completed units rather than a cash land price. Dan Real Estate's March 2025 private-land win (260 units) is described as a combination deal. For a foreign buyer it matters because the counterparty and the payment path differ from a RAMI tender plot.

Tochnit itzuvתוכנית עיצוב

After winning a lot, a developer must get a tochnit itzuv approved by the local planning committee. It locks the towers, fabric buildings, courtyards, and public edges. Only then can the city issue a building permit. When a news item says "design plan approved," this is the gate that just opened.

Hafkadaהפקדה

Before a detailed plan is validated it is deposited (hafkada) so residents and agencies can object. Central and North plans were deposited in 2022–2024 and finally validated in August 2024. Objections at this stage are why some later tenders were postponed.

Heter bniyaהיתר בנייה

A heter bniya is the full building permit. Rainbow received the district's first excavation permit in March 2024 and a full permit in October 2025; ASHIRA received a full permit in March 2026. Without it, marketing can run but the tower cannot rise above the early-works stage.

Heter chafira ve'dipunהיתר חפירה ודיפון

This early-works permit lets the contractor dig the basement and shore the pit. Rainbow's March 2024 excavation permit was the first in the district; ASHIRA received its excavation-and-shoring permit in July 2024. It is not permission to build the tower.

Diur mechalilדיור מכליל

The district is not only luxury towers. Plan TA/4444 mandates roughly 6,900 inclusive-housing units — affordable, reduced-rent, small apartments, long-term rental, and student housing. Diur bar hasaga is the narrower "affordable housing" phrase. The city engineer has said developers no longer fear this mix, even in Sde Dov.

Dira LeHaskirדירה להשכיר

Dira LeHaskir is a state vehicle that tenders land for apartments that must be rented long-term rather than sold. Shikun & Binui's Eshkol lots 109 (324 units) and 106 (511 units) were won this way; Prashkovsky won both 2025 long-term-rental tenders (966 units) with the same company. These homes are not on the private for-sale market.

Marlogמרלו"ג

Marlog is short for merkaz logisti. Lot 306 in Eshkol is the district logistics hub plus offices, won by Pangaea Sde Dov (an Israel Canada vehicle) in a municipal tender in August 2024. The idea is that vans terminate at the marlog instead of circulating through the new streets. Coverage noted that even this building is designed to look like a luxury project.

Green Lineהקו הירוק

HaKav HaYarok is NTA's Green Line. It crosses the district along the Ibn Gvirol / Gordon axis with four stations: Propes, Nofei Yam, Einstein, and Zahara Levitov (named for the pioneering woman pilot). The southern section is expected around late 2028, with full service around December 2030. For buyers, the stations are as important as the beach.

Readingרדינג

Reading Power Station, founded by Pinchas Rotenberg and opened in 1938 — the same year as Sde Dov — anchors the district's southern edge. Generation was announced to stop in January 2024; the giant steel tanks are being reused as a culture and leisure landmark, with nightly lighting. A leisure marina of about 300 moorings (Ma'aganat Reading) and Reading Park sit next to them.

The three parksשלושת הפארקים

Park HaChof (Coastal Park) runs about 240–265 dunams along two kilometres of shore; its promenade opened in September 2023 and won the Karavan Prize in 2025. Park HaMaslul (Runway Park) keeps the old runway alignment and the preserved control tower. A Linear Park ties the complexes together. A bridge from Eshkol into Yarkon Park began construction in August 2026.

PFASPFAS

PFAS compounds are a legacy of decades of airport firefighting foam. The Environment Ministry and the Israel Land Authority announced groundwater findings in February 2026, opened a remediation fast track, and updated national thresholds in March 2026. Some lots tested cleaner than others; coverage has treated a clean plot as a sales advantage, and the first buyer lawsuit over contamination was filed in August 2026.

Fabric buildingsבנייה מרקמית

Binyan mirkami is the district's stepped-skyline rule: fabric buildings of seven to nine stories line the streets, with towers of 20–45 stories set back behind them. The street stays human-scale; the skyline rises as you walk inland. When a project lists "two 7–8-story buildings" beside a 34-story tower, those low blocks are the fabric.

Easement courtyardחצר בזיקת הנאה

Hatzer be'zikat hana'a is a courtyard owned with the building but burdened with a public easement, so the block is not a gated compound. Planners call the resulting open-block network "luxury without walls." For a buyer it means the garden is part of the project and also part of a walkable district, not a fenced enclave.

Umbrella agreementהסכם גג

A heschem gag is an umbrella agreement between a city and the government. It is referenced in coverage of Herzliya's adjacent Hof HaTchelet plan (signed November 2025, ₪6B+). It is not a Sde Dov-specific contract, but it is the tool nearby cities use to unlock coastal housing at this scale.

Dunamדונם

A dunam is the standard Israeli land unit: 1,000 sqm, roughly a quarter of an acre. Sde Dov is about 1,500 dunams — Tel Aviv's last large coastal reserve. Lot gardens are also quoted this way: ZOHI's private garden is about 2.8 dunams. Divide by ten to get a rough hectare figure.