The news that Jerusalem is to have a pyramid of its own, a skyscraper designed by Daniel Libeskind, has elicited mixed reactions. City officials say the stone-and-glass building will help revitalize the city center, and one expert hopes that world-class architecture will be a boon for the area. But critics have voiced concern that the luxury tower—with 200 apartments, a boutique hotel, a restaurant, and a ground-floor arcade of upscale shops—will exacerbate the phenomenon of ghost apartments in the city, that is, apartments owned by residents of other countries who visit Israel for only brief periods each year. Jerusalem has the highest concentration of such apartments in Israel, and the Libeskind project is one of several new luxury complexes in the city center aimed mainly at foreign buyers.

The 345-foot tower is set to rise near the Mahane Yehuda open-air produce market that is also an increasingly popular entertainment area at night. The Pyramid, as Libeskind calls his project, is to be Jerusalem’s second-tallest building.