In the ceremony held on
2 September of the current year (10 AM), with the presence of Eng. Mohammad
Saeidikia (Minister of Housing and Urban Planning) and the authorities of Tehran
Municipality Dist. 6, and Rabbi Sedighpour, the religious authority of Iran’s
Jews, Morris Motamed (Jews’ representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly,
members of Tehran Jewish Committeeand some of our coreligionists, the first
pickaxe for construction of the Jewish Cultural-Sport and Social Center was
stroke to the ground.
Iran’s Jewish community, in spite of possessing numerous properties, has always been dreaming of a suitable complex which can reply different needs of the society, specially those of the youths, and the scattered buildings of the internal organizations and entities of the society have neither protected their dignity nor satisfied their miscellaneous needs.
In the past 40 years, The idea for construction and establishment of the Jewish Center has always been one of the concerns of the authorities of the Community and many follow-ups and activities have been carried out in this regard, one of which is the purchase of a piece of land in Sheikh Bahaei St., whose title was taken from the Association under the corresponding laws, upon the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution.
With the continuous follow-ups of the authorities of the Jewish Community, the representatives of the Jewish Community in different rounds of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the negotiations carried out by Eng. Morris Motamed and since no result was obtained regarding the return of the afore-mentioned land to the Jews Community, finally Tehran Province Housing and Urban Planning General Department agreed to transfer of a piece of land with an area of approximately 3200 Sqm. near the facilities of Telecommunication Co. in Sheikh Bahaei St. (North to the former land, which belonged to the Jews Association) against receiving the consideration thereof, and this land was transferred to Jewish Committeein the year 2004 with the usage not related to the goal of the Association.
Following the execution of the contract, efforts were made to change the usage of the said land and finally the relevant authorities of Tehran Municipality and Commission for Art. 5 of the High Council of Iran Urban Planning and Architecture agreed to the change of the usage of the land and the operations for construction of a cultural and sport complex with a foundation of almost 7,000 Sqm. started.
This project was approved by Commission for Art. 5 and it includes standard halls for saloon sports with seats for the fans, a pool with side facilities, celebration hall, amphitheater, conference hall, body-building saloons, martial art, gymnastics, chess, classrooms and multi-purpose halls, library, restaurant as well as administrative buildings and the meeting room for the board of directors of Jewish Committeeand other required rooms and facilities, including parking lots.
Due to the location of the land, and in order to make the maximum use of the potentialities of the land, the architectural plan of the complex was prepared by Eng. Kamran Khalilnasab, one of the experienced Jewish architects. The plan uses the significant symbol of the Iranian traditional architecture (central yard), for gathering of the users and also uses the specific symbols of Judaism in landscaping. Necessary measures were taken to obtain required permits and the final approval of the project from the Commission for Art. 5 of the High Council of Urban Planning and Architecture. Presently, the project is in the final stages of obtaining the construction permit from Tehran Dist. 6 Municipality.
