The field, in pictures
Hangars, night landings, the last approaches, the emptied apron, the tower that stays. Every plate names who made it. Tap a still to open it.
Photo: District recordsPhoto: Stas Umansky / Wikimedia Commons, modified
The field on film
Two records of the airport while it still flew. Embedded from YouTube; the channel is the credit.
A 3D reconstruction of the field as it stood: runway, apron, Reading, the sea.
Cockpit takeoff while the real-estate argument was already public: would the field close, or not?
What the papers showed
The same story, told as it happened. We credit the publication and keep their frames with the headline.
Photo: Times of IsraelTimes of IsraelFeb 2020Sde Dov airport emptied, paving way for luxury high-risesThe hangars photographed empty. The last commercial flight had already gone.
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Photo: Go Tel AvivGo Tel AvivAug 2020Farewell to Sde Dov AirportWhy the 1938 strip existed, how 700,000 people a year used it, and what the Supreme Court fight cost.
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Photo: GlobesGlobesMar 2020Sde Dov outline plan approvedTA/4444 becomes a district on paper: homes, parks, the Green Line, the preserved tower.
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Photo: GlobesGlobes2017Sde Dov to have mixed socioeconomic residentsThe district was never designed as a sealed luxury enclave. Inclusive housing is in the plan.
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Photo: Cohen-Wend ArchitectsHaaretz29 Oct 2012Sde Dov airport to make way for thousands of homesThe government decision that ended fifty years of argument: planes leave, a neighborhood is drawn.
Read the source- Photo: Cohen-Wend ArchitectsCohen-Wend ArchitectsPlanSde Dov Tel Aviv outline plan for a new urban district
The architects' own page for the district plan. The drawing, not a sales render.
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Photo: אורן פלס (CC BY 2.5) / Wikimedia Commons, modifiedDuby Tal / Israel AviationNight opsGood night, Sde Dov AirportThe night photograph that still circulates: the field lit, the city behind it.
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From airfield to district: the whole story.
Eighty-one years of aviation, fifty years of debate, one masterplan, and a tender gold rush. The complete chronological record with evidence on every event.
Photo: Chen Haik / PikiWiki, modified
Photo: PikiWiki Israel / Wikimedia Commons3 Sept 1938AirportSde Dov (Dov Hoz) Airport opensThe airfield opened on 3 September 1938 during the Arab Revolt, as Tel Aviv's alternative to Lydda. Palestine Airways flew from here; it later became an RAF base and the home of Israel's first air-force squadron.
- 3 Jul 2012PlanningOutline plan TA/3700 approved for the coast north of the airfield
The outline plan for about 1,900 dunams of the coast north of the Sde Dov airfield is approved: a separate plan from the district's own TA/4444.
Source · District records - 5 Dec 2012PlanningGovernment approves evacuation of Sde Dov airport
The government backs trading the airfield for housing, the decision that starts the long close-down.
Source · District records - 3 Sept 2014PlanningProgram set at 16,000 housing units
The steering committee, with city engineer Oded Gvuli, updates the program to 16,000 homes: the figure that still defines the district.
Source · District records - 6 Jun 2015PlanningDefense Ministry takes ₪1B for early evacuation
The state pays about a billion shekels so the army will leave the field before the original timetable.
Source · District records - 26 Feb 2016PlanningSupreme Court sets evacuation for January 2019
The court postpones the final evacuation date to January 2019, locking the close of the 81-year airfield.
Source · District records 
Photo: PikiWiki Israel / Wikimedia Commons30 Jun 2019AirportSde Dov Airport closes after 81 yearsThe last flight leaves; the final IAF sortie goes to Hatzor, and Eilat receives ₪400M in compensation. The field had moved 703,649 passengers in its last full year.
Photo: District records31 Jul 2019AirportRunway demolition beginsDemolition of the runway starts; the site is fully vacated by early 2020. Only the control tower is kept as a historic building.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons10 Feb 2020AirportEvacuation of Sde Dov is completeAfter 81 years, the IDF and civil evacuation of the airfield is finished.
Source · District records- 12 Mar 2020PlanningDistrict plan TA/4444 validated
The Sde Dov district plan is validated: about 16,000 homes on 1,300 dunams, three complexes, parks, hotels, and two kilometres of beach.
Source · District records - 1 Mar 2021TendersILA issues the first Sde Dov housing tender
The Israel Land Authority tenders 1,916 units in the Eshkol section, including 324 long-term rental apartments.
- 23 Aug 2021TendersRecord first-tender results: ₪4.4B for 1,540 homes
Winners pay about ₪2.8M in land per apartment, 6.5 times the minimum. Avisror, K.M. Madaf 5, Meshulam Levinstein + Allied, G.Z. Madaf 35, and Israel Canada (480 units, ~₪1.3B) take plots.
- 2 Dec 2021TendersShikun & Binui wins 324 long-term rental units
Lot 109 in Eshkol goes to Shikun & Binui through the government Dira LeHaskir tender.
Source · District records - 22 Mar 2022TendersFollow-up tender cools: 241 units for ₪654M
A smaller Eshkol follow-up closes at about ₪2.71M of land per unit, well below the 2021 frenzy.
- 28 Mar 2022TendersClaude Nahmias wins a RAMI tender in Eshkol
Nahmias Group wins an Israel Land Authority tender to build apartments in Complex A / Eshkol, the plot that becomes UTOPIA on lot 103.
Source · District records - 12 Apr 2022TendersShikun & Binui wins 511 more rental units
A second Dira LeHaskir win gives Shikun & Binui lot 106: 511 long-term rental apartments.
Source · District records - 10 May 2023PlanningFirst Eshkol design plans approved
About two years after the first big tender, the local committee approves the first architectural design plans in the southern complex.
Source · District records - 20 Feb 2024PlanningReut Rehabilitation Hospital campus approved
A new campus for Reut Hospital, relocating from Yad Eliyahu, is approved on the former airfield.
Source · District records 
Photo: District records26 Mar 2024ConstructionFirst building permit in the district: Rainbow excavationIsrael Canada's RAINBOW on lot 111 receives the first excavation-and-shoring permit in Sde Dov.
Source · District records- 25 Jul 2024MarketDimri buys Mor Group's lot 107 for ₪1.1B
Y.H. Dimri enters Sde Dov after Hanan Mor's ₪3.2B debt settlement, paying ₪1.1B for land Mor had won at ₪1.5B in 2021.
Source · District records - 19 Aug 2024PlanningLocal committee gives final validation to Central and North plans
The detailed plans for the two remaining complexes (thousands of homes north of Eshkol) are finally validated.
Source · District records - 1 Sept 2024TendersILA launches its biggest wave: 7,159 units
Ten tenders in the Center and North plans go to market, land for more than 7,100 homes, with a headline value of about ₪25B.
Photo: District records11 Nov 2024ConstructionFirst cornerstone laid at ASHIRAAvisror lays the first cornerstone in the district on lot 101, the moment construction of the new neighborhood becomes visible.
Source · District records- 25 Dec 2024TendersAll Sde Dov tenders postponed after two appeals
Wind-regime and land-rights appeals against the detailed plans freeze the mega-tender; further postponements follow into 2025.
- 19 Feb 2025TendersCentral-district winners: 4,191 units for about ₪6B
Land prices come in about 40% below 2021. Winners include Israel Brothers, Gindi Holdings (two plots), Electra Residence + Dan Nadlan (Nahor), Luzon Ronson, Hagag Group (350 units, ~₪756M), and A.A.I. Abu + Tomer Koko.
- 4 Mar 2025TendersPrashkovsky wins both long-term-rental tenders (966 units)
Bidding with Dira LeHaskir, Prashkovsky takes both rental tenders: 966 apartments that will not be sold on the private market.
- 16 Mar 2025TendersDan Real Estate buys a private-land plot for ~₪600M
260 units plus 300 sqm of commerce, in a combination deal that beat Gindi, Electra, Azorim, and Zemach Hammerman.
- 26 Mar 2025TendersNorth-district tenders close: 2,744 units, ₪4.59B
Winners include Y.H. Dimri (275), Calanit, a Shapir company (150), Shikun & Binui (185), Aviv/Melisron (320), Euro Israel (260), Luzon Ronson + Shimon Amir, Yossi Avrahami (144), Tashluz (177), Mediterranean Towers (300 senior units), and, in separate rental tenders, A.M. Israel for Africa Israel (390) and Union Liv (323). A first-four-tenders subset of 1,737 units is reported the next day.
- 3 Jun 2025MarketGindi prices VOGUE from ₪49,000 per sqm
The Central-complex launch undercuts the district average by tens of percent; around 700 apartments sell within weeks.
- 11 Jul 2025MarketHagag launches FIRST
The ODA-designed 45-floor sea-line tower on lot 2270 goes to market; 46 sales follow in two months.
- 27 Aug 2025MarketIsrael Canada's average Rainbow deal hits ₪11M
A record average for the project: 234 units sold for ₪2B.
- 17 Sept 2025PlanningCourt approves the Big Bloc rights table for 1,892 owners
A historic ruling settles the division of the privately owned land inside the old airport: the 50-year fight over HaGush HaGadol.
Source · District records - Photo: District records1 Oct 2025ConstructionRainbow receives a full building permit
Israel Canada's RAINBOW on lot 111, which already held the district's first excavation permit, receives a full building permit.
Source · District records - 22 Dec 2025MarketDimri launches Dimri Yama TLV from ₪3.75M
458 units on lot 107, about ₪1.07B of investment, two-room apartments from ₪3.75M.
Source · District records - Photo: District records1 Jan 2026ConstructionRainbow moves to execution with Ashtrom
Israel Canada picks Ashtrom as contractor for ~₪736M. Works start in January 2026 on the tower, reported 70% pre-sold.
- 21 Jan 2026PlanningSix Center and North plots approach building permits
Design-plan approvals are fast-tracked a year after the land was marketed.
- 27 Jan 2026MarketZOHI launches
Levinstein, Mivne, and Metropolis/Allied put 230 low-rise units on lot 110 on sale from ₪70,000 per sqm.
- 4 Feb 2026EnvironmentPFAS groundwater contamination announced
The Environment Ministry and the Israel Land Authority disclose firefighting-foam chemicals in the old airport's groundwater. Investigations widen; delays to the ~16,000-unit build-out are possible.
- Photo: District records12 Mar 2026ConstructionASHIRA receives a full building permit
Avisror's lot 101, which tested clean of contamination, gets a full permit: the first among the flagship marketed towers.
Source · District records - 14 May 2026TendersRemaining tenders stall after 12 postponements
A 217-unit Central-district tender has been postponed 12 times since September 2024; other leftover tenders are also stuck.
- 2 Jun 2026MarketSales slowdown across the district
Q1 filings show the pace collapsing. Israel Canada has sold about 300 units at ₪85,700/sqm on average; a late-May report says almost half of Dimri's sales were to the controlling shareholder.
- 8 Jul 2026InfrastructureGreen Line light-rail progress update
The municipality presents a southern-section timetable, with Mayor Huldai. Four stations will serve the district: Propes, Nofei Yam, Einstein, and Zahara Levitov.
Source · District records - 5 Aug 2026EnvironmentFirst buyer lawsuit over contamination
An option-holder sues Gindi Holdings for a ~₪500K refund after the PFAS findings.
- 16 Aug 2026InfrastructureFifth water line gets a green light
Approval of Tel Aviv's fifth water line is framed as paving the way to occupying Sde Dov.
Source · District records