VI. Construction and Physical Development
As mentioned above, I began my term in office determined to shift emphasis from physical to academic development. Shortly thereafter, the construction of the impressive Smolarz Auditorium was concluded on the basis of a gift and planning concluded by the previous administration. The auditorium's complex was completed by a new decision to build the first underground parking facility. It was done with almost no cost to the University as a B.O.T. project (B.O.T. stands for Build, Operate, Transfer, whereby an entrepreneur makes the investment, builds and operates the project and eventually transfers it to the institution).
The successful parking project encouraged us to develop the "Student City" project, a new complex of dormitories and apartment buildings on the southern edge of the campus. Relying on the B.O.T. method, we envisioned a project that would dramatically increase the number of dormitory rooms and enable the University to offer apartments to married graduate students and young faculty, expand its international programs and inject more liveliness into an urban campus. Moreover, the entrepreneurs bidding for this project would also be asked to include renovation of the existing dormitories - badly in need of massive refurbishment. The process of planning, preparation for tender and the tender itself took almost three years and was completed in the spring of 2007 at the very end of my term. At the same time, we began to offer projects in Student City to donors, with impressive early results ($9 million were committed within a few months).
Another project I inherited was the former headquarters of the "Israeli Building Center" that was purchased from the Tel Aviv municipality. The building cost NIS 30 million and required additional investment. The original purpose was to put the building at the disposal of the Technological High School affiliated with the University. I persuaded TAU's management team to allocate the building to another purpose. There seemed to be no point to make this and additional investments in a school that had passed its prime and in which the relevant university departments (Faculty of Engineering and School of Education) had no real interest. For a variety of reasons, neither the Ministry of Education nor Tel Aviv's City Hall were willing to make any investment in the school either. Eventually, as a downsizing measure and in line with the University's strategic plan, we decided to close down the school and to transfer its two components to Shenkar College and the city of Herzliya. This was done with the consent of the Meyerhoff family, the school's donors. The University was left with 10,000 square meters of built space and 22 dunams for future development.
The building was first put at the disposal of the High-Tech Management School. After its closure, it was assigned to the new INSS (Institute for National Security Studies) as part of the large financial donation and transaction involved in its establishment.
Two other buildings decided upon during these years were the Porter Building for the Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) and the Executive Education Wing at the Faculty of Management. In both cases, a donation was secured and planning begun, but the PBC's approval has yet to be secured and construction has yet to begin. In this context, it is important to mention that matching by the PBC was an essential dimension in the development of Israel's campuses during the previous 30 years but this aid has come to an end.
One project that was conceived and budgeted but never got off the ground was a building for TAU's National Natural History Collections. Donations were secured to construct such a building contiguous to the PSES building, but due to problems in the Zoology Department, the project had to be delayed.
Several more compact projects were completed or begun: two scientific facilities - S.P.F. and M.R.I; the conversion of the De Botton Building from a Student Services Center to a School of Architecture; and the renovation of the Wiener Library Building into a Library of Special Collections.
