Levinstein Properties: The Old Central Bus Station, a Large Value Pool That Still Depends on Planning and Funding
The old central bus station is carried at NIS 749.15 million for Levinstein Properties’ share, but the 2025 uplift came mainly from shorter delay assumptions and lighter discounts, not from a full planning unlock. Until permits in Complex 1, objections in Complexes 2 and 3, and the 2026 funding path are resolved, this remains a large planning-value pool rather than liquid value.
Why Isolate The Old Central Bus Station
In the main article, the old central bus station stood out as the biggest value pool in Levinstein Properties’ reporting, but also as the asset where the gap between booked value and accessible cash is widest. This follow-up isolates the real question: how much of the NIS 749.15 million carrying value already rests on concrete planning and funding progress, and how much still depends on assumptions, discounts, and time.
First finding: the project booked only about NIS 5.7 million of revaluation gain in 2025, after an approximately NIS 11.7 million loss in 2024. That does not look like a dramatic unlock, and the reason matters: the improvement mainly came from a shorter delay period for one plot in Complex 1 and changes in size and build-complexity discounts, while musha discounts actually increased in Complexes 2 and 3.
Second finding: the NIS 749.15 million value in Levinstein’s books is only half of an appraisal of roughly NIS 1.4983 billion for the two partners’ rights together. Before talking about hidden value, it is worth remembering that not all of that value belongs to Levinstein in the first place, and even within Levinstein’s half not every right sits at the same stage of maturity.
Third finding: only Complex 1 is far enough along to begin linking value to actual permits. In Complexes 2 and 3, the re-parcellation and allocation tables are not yet final, objections were filed, and some of the rights remain held in musha. That is a material distinction: value attached to an approved complex with an active permit file is not the same as value attached to a complex where the rights can still move.
Fourth finding: on funding, the bus station is not under covenant pressure today. As of December 31, 2025, debt against the project stood at NIS 100 million, and the actual loan-to-value ratio was 13% against a 60% limit. That is a strength, but it is not monetization. The cushion exists because the bank still accepts the appraised value, not because the land has already become a permitted, construction-funded project with a clear exit path.
What The NIS 749 Million Actually Represents
Levinstein holds its rights through Levinstein Nechasim Batachana, in a 50-50 partnership with Shikun & Binui. The cooperation agreement says the acquisition was made on an equal basis, that both sides share profits, losses, planning costs and evacuation costs, and that land-acquisition funding is raised separately by each side for its own share. That is why the numbers have to be read in two layers: the total project value, and Levinstein’s economic share in it.
The appraiser valued the two partners’ combined rights at about NIS 1.4983 billion as of December 31, 2025, versus roughly NIS 1.4835 billion at the prior measurement date. In Levinstein’s books, that becomes NIS 749.15 million. The number is large, but it is not the value of a mature income-producing asset. The company itself treats the land as a long-term capital-appreciation asset, and the valuation report explicitly says income from the temporary parking lease was not included because it is short term and immaterial relative to the value of the site.
That is the key point. The site is not being held to generate meaningful NOI today. It is being held to travel through a long chain of planning, re-parcellation, permits, excavation, preservation obligations, public-benefit obligations, and financing. The right question is not whether the number is large, but how much of it can already be translated into financing capacity, execution pace, or an actual transaction.
Where Planning Actually Stands
The biggest gap inside the valuation is not between an optimistic and a conservative scenario. It is between Complex 1 and Complexes 2 and 3. Complex 1 already has an approved re-parcellation plan, while the other two complexes still sit on updated allocation tables that were challenged through objections.
| Complex | Partners’ rights position | Planning and permit status | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100% of the rights in the complex | Re-parcellation plan approved. Design plans for plots 100 and 101 approved. Three permit applications were filed for plot 101: excavation and shoring, a full permit with relief requests, and a subgrade authorization under the surrounding roads | This is the only part of the site where value is beginning to move toward actual permit stage |
| 2 | 28.4% in the complex | Updated allocation and balancing tables were published and challenged. The plan is not yet final and the rights remain in musha | Value here is still exposed to changes in the final allocation and planning terms |
| 3 | 76% in the complex | Updated tables were also published here and challenged. In some plots the companies’ share moved from 100% to musha, and there is still a dispute with lessees in the complex | This creates direct risk of delay, compensation, and rights leakage |
Not every shekel of the NIS 749 million sits on the same kind of asset. Part of it sits in Complex 1, where there is already an approved plan and live permit work. Another part sits in Complexes 2 and 3, where planning finality is still missing. That is not the same level of liquidity.
Even inside Complex 1, the picture is not clean yet. Plot 101 has a full permit application with relief requests that already passed the preliminary conditions, but around the subgrade construction authorization the city demanded about NIS 10.5 million of lease payments, and the valuation says negotiations were still ongoing over the final amount and lease terms. Plot 100, meanwhile, had its design plan approved only subject to additional completions. In other words, even the most advanced part of the site has not yet completed the move from planning to executable permit.
The Discounts That Decide Whether The Value Holds
The valuation report itself explains why the site is a large but fragile value pool. The appraiser did not arrive at the final number from clean land. He arrived there after a long list of deductions, adjustments, and assumptions. That is why any relaxed reading of the NIS 749 million misses the point: a lot of the hard work is already embedded in the value through discount factors, while other pieces still remain unresolved.
| Item | How it enters the valuation today | What remains open |
|---|---|---|
| Musha | In plots held in musha, the appraiser applied a 0.9 discount factor | Any further change in the final allocation or rights split in Complexes 2 and 3 can still weigh again |
| Delay and availability | The appraisal assigns a separate delay profile to each complex | As long as Complexes 2 and 3 do not have final re-parcellation approval, the delay factor remains fluid |
| Public obligations and preservation | The valuation deducts 100 public parking spaces, about 3,440 sqm of built public space, and preservation of Beit Habe’er | The full finish-level cost of the public obligations was still disputed even after the January 2026 appeal-committee decision |
| Betterment levy | The appraisal deducts betterment levy based on the decisive appraiser, plus final levy assessments for parts of Complex 1 | The January 7, 2026 appeal decision changed some assumptions on how public-obligation costs should be deducted, and the sides could still reach a different agreement |
| Lessees in Complex 3 | The appraiser assumes the lessees will be compensated with built retail space and deducts that from plot 301’s value | The scope of the lessees’ rights was still under legal dispute into 2026 |
| Costs not included | The report explicitly says it does not include soil contamination, groundwater, or antiquities treatment costs | If any of those layers becomes relevant later, it can hit the accessible economic value directly |
The implication is straightforward: 2025 did not prove that the value became more solid. It only moved several assumptions in a slightly friendlier direction. That is also exactly what the annual report says. The year’s revaluation gain did not come from a permit being granted, a sale, a new funding package, or the closure of a major legal dispute. It came from a shorter delay on one plot in Complex 1 and a change in size and complexity discounts, offset by larger musha discounts in Complexes 2 and 3.
The Green Line story reinforces the same reading. The appraiser explicitly took into account that the underground light-rail route limits basement planning and anchor placement, yet he also says that construction progress and greater clarity around part of the complexity support the view that plot 101 is no longer blocked from receiving a permit. That is a meaningful improvement, but it is still an improvement in complexity, not the end of complexity.
Funding: The Cushion Exists, The Cash Event Does Not
From a financing perspective, the bus station is in a better position than the words “development land” might suggest. In December 2023, the company restructured NIS 100 million of credit for Levinstein Nechasim Batachana at prime plus 0.5%, with a bullet maturity on December 15, 2026. The debt is presented as a current liability as of December 31, 2025, and management says it believes the facility can be rolled over and even expanded.
The more important point sits in the covenants. The loan agreement requires a 60% loan-to-value ratio, and the actual ratio stood at just 13% at year-end 2025. On a simple arithmetic reading, the book value could support roughly NIS 449.5 million of debt at the covenant ceiling, versus only NIS 100 million actually drawn. So the project is not currently under covenant stress. In addition, the rights are already pledged to the bank through a first-ranking charge, and the parent company provided a guarantee up to NIS 800 million. The banking system is already sitting inside the asset.
But this is exactly where financing flexibility and value realization part ways. A wide covenant cushion only means the bank is still willing to give weight to the appraisal. It does not mean the value has already turned into cash, and it does not mean the next funding step will come just as easily if permits slip, if the allocation tables in Complexes 2 and 3 move again, or if public-obligation, preservation, or levy costs rise.
That is why the right way to read 2026 is not “does the bus station comply with covenants,” but “is it moving fast enough to turn planning value into a stronger financing base.” As long as the answer is only partial, the site remains an asset with impressive paper value but a monetization path that still depends on a sequence of milestones that has not closed yet.
Bottom Line
The old central bus station is a very large value pool, but 2025 did not reopen it. It only modestly strengthened the case that progress is possible. That is a material difference. This year’s revaluation came from friendlier delay and complexity assumptions in Complex 1, while the core risks in Complexes 2 and 3, musha holdings, levy outcomes, lessee rights, and public obligations all remained on the table.
The fair counter-thesis is that the market may still be too conservative. The site has already been cleared of squatters, Complex 1 already has approved design plans and active permit files, and the funding cushion against the bank is wide. That is a serious point. But the local evidence still does not show a jump from planning value to realizable value. It shows land that has advanced, not land that has matured.
So the next read will turn on four checkpoints: progress to a full permit on plot 101, closure of the remaining conditions around plot 100, resolution of objections and rights issues in Complexes 2 and 3, and turning management’s expectation of a December 2026 refinancing into a funded fact. Until then, the right way to read the bus station is as a large value pool that still depends on planning and funding, not as value that has already been released.
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