US casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is in talks to buy the former US ambassador’s residence in Herzliya for some NIS 300 million ($89 million), which would be the priciest real estate purchase in the country’s history, financial daily Globes reports.
According to the report, which cites 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.
US Ambassador Dan Shapiro hosts an Iftar dinner at his residence in Herzliya on June 14, 2016 (photo credit: CC BY 2.0 US Embassy/Flickr)
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.
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.
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