A company representing a US-based Jewish community has purchased two entire residential towers under construction in central Jerusalem in a deal believed to be one of the largest private real estate transactions in Israel’s history.

OP Jerusalem, based in Brooklyn, New York, has acquired 200 luxury apartments under construction near the Mahane Yehuda market, in order to market them to the Syrian Jewish community overseas.

The total value of the deal could be as much as NIS 1 billion ($270 million), according to one estimate given in Hebrew media.

“The idea of the project is to create a hub in Israel for our community,” which consists primarily of Syrian Jews from Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey, Elliot Shelby, OP Jerusalem’s co-head of sales, told The Times of Israel.

The target market includes other groups of Sephardic origin, such as Moroccan and Persian Jews, as well as Syrian Jews in Panama and Mexico, Shelby said. But sales are open to everyone, including Ashkenazi Jews, and about 25% of apartments are being purchased by people from “outside the community,” he noted.

“The only rule is, no gefilte fish allowed,” Shelby joked.

The Syrian Jewish community, believed to number about 100,000 people, is considered one of the most cohesive Jewish groups in the US, known for a number of wealthy, high-profile entrepreneurs and a disinclination to marry outside its network.

Centered primarily in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gravesend and Flatbush, as well as the seaside suburb of Deal, the community developed from........

© The Times of Israel