Israel’s largest spa planned for new luxury resort replacing Ashkelon’s ‘white elepha

The Shevet Ahim Group has begun construction of a luxury resort on Ashkelon’s seafront promenade, in a project that will replace one of the city’s best-known “white elephants” — the abandoned shell of the Cliff Hotel, whose construction on the coastal bluff was halted about a decade ago because of financial difficulties faced by the original developer. The new hotel, designed by Itzik Levy Architecture and Engineering, is expected to open in March 2027.