Adelson in talks to buy US ambassador residence for NIS 300m — report
If embassy gets its asking price, the beachfront property in Herzliya that David Friedman no longer uses will be Israel’s most expensive property
US casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is reportedly in talks to buy the former US ambassador’s residence in Herzliya Pituach for some NIS 300 million ($89 million), which would be the most expensive real estate purchase in the country’s history.
According to the financial daily Globes, which cited unnamed sources, US officials want the deal to close before the presidential election in November, to make it seem as if the US embassy cannot move back to Tel Aviv.
The palatial seaside residence sits on a 1.2-acre lot on one of the country’s most expensive streets in the leafy Tel Aviv suburb. Since the embassy moved to Jerusalem, where ambassador David Friedman already has a home, the residence is no longer needed.
If the embassy gets its asking price, it would far exceed the record set in January when Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich bought an estate in central Israel for a record $64.5 million.
The price reflects its location on Galei Tchelet Street, considered Israel’s most expensive with its views of the Mediterranean. It is the home of several ambassadors and billionaires.
At 1.2 acres, it is also an unusually large property for the street, and is grandfathered into zoning restrictions that have since prevented landowners from assembling such large lots, Eytan Blumberg, a broker at Anglo-Saxon Real Estate, told The New York Times.
The 11,000-square-foot villa, with a pool and a hot tub, built in the 1960s, likely would be demolished and a new home built on the desirable property, according to Globes. The United States was given the property by Israel in 1962.
Adelson, a major donor to US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, was reportedly a main catalyst pushing for the embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Tel Aviv embassy remains an embassy; officially it is a branch of the Jerusalem building, which used to be a consulate.
Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since its founding in 1948, although much of the international community does not recognize it as, under the initial UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to be an international city.
Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, when he announced plans to move the embassy there. In May 2018, his administration opened the new facility — a move that was met with intense controversy, both in Washington and in the Middle East.
Following the move the Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, cut ties with Washington, calling the Trump administration biased toward Israel.
