Unfortunately the committee decided to build a small shopping center of only 300 square meters which would enable the operation of four stores, instead of making use of the lot which would have enabled a shopping center at least twice as big.
It took the Modi'in municipality almost a whole year to complete the plan for the shopping center and submit it to the county for approval. The plan was stuck at the county for almost two years, until the municipality implemented the changes in parking arrangements per the country's requirements and the plan was finally approved by the county.
In August of 2007 The Israeli Land Agency issued a tender for a the building and marketing of the shopping center. The tender stipulated that the shops will be designated for commerce and will include a mini-market grocery store of at least 200 Sq. meters, a coffee shop and any other uses approved by the building and planning committee. There were 46 proposals submitted and the winning bid, announced on September 19th 2007, was for 3.2 million shekels submitted by two entrepreneurs, Roni Cohen & Haim Noah.
Here is the planned layout of the the lot (the shopping center is in the bottom):
Current Status
Construction of the shopping center is currently underway. The entrepreneurs are planning there a minimarket and a cafe/pizzeria. They hope to open the shopping center within a month after Passover 2009.
