Tel Aviv Elite Clash Over Luxury Building Delays and 21 Million Shekel Lawsuit
Prominent Israeli business figures, including former Shufersal CEO Efi Rosen-Hays, have filed for arbitration over a 3-year delay and 21 million shekels in damages at a luxury Tel Aviv boutique building.
A high-stakes legal dispute has erupted over a luxury boutique building on Mazeh Street in Tel Aviv, involving prominent business figures including former Shufersal CEO Efi Rosen-Hays, businessman Boaz Raam, and former Megorit CEO Mati Dov. A request to appoint an arbitrator was filed this morning at the Tel Aviv District Court, targeting a project management company owned by Ofir Kleiman.
According to the court filing, the 7-story, 13-unit luxury building featuring an underground parking garage and high-end specifications faced a three-year delay in completion. The owners claim this delay resulted in massive rental income losses for an entire building in central Tel Aviv, alongside artificially inflated costs and the alleged hiring of associates tied to the project manager. A 4-room apartment spanning 150 square meters in the building is currently listed for sale at 13 million shekels.
The dispute centers around an arbitration clause in the original 2015 agreement to demolish and rebuild the property using Gidi Bar Orian Architects. The owners are demanding 18 million shekels out of a claimed 21 million shekel total damage, alleging negligence that caused over 12 million shekels in lost rent and millions in bloated overhead expenses. Furthermore, disagreements persist over whether Kleiman should be personally joined as a party to the arbitration alongside his company, and whether former Tel Aviv District Court President Eitan Orenstein should preside as arbitrator despite an ongoing criminal investigation.
In response, Ofir Kleiman and his company, represented by Adv. Benny Shaffer, managing partner at S. Horowitz & Co., strongly rejected the allegations. They dismissed the claims as baseless, extortionate, and driven by ulterior motives aimed at extracting funds from an insurance company. The defense argues that the project delays were caused entirely by the developers themselves, who struggled to make joint decisions, repeatedly changed their minds, and ultimately delivered a completed, high-end building in 2022 to the owners' satisfaction without any prior complaints.
