in august 1997 the bank planned to construct a 18-story tower on the plot to serve as its offices. in order to do so, the tel aviv-yafo municipality required the bank to buy an old house for the purpose of historic preservation as a condition in order to receive a zoning permit. in that month, the bank bought the historic building beit naparsteg from the businessman zadik bino for approximately 4.5 million usd, after which it received a building permit. the bank only begun the building process in 2001, and after digging the foundations the bank's management changed its mind and decided to instead move its offices to the moshe aviv tower in ramat gan; following this building was halted.