Despite impending sale, US ambassador to remain in official Herzliya residence
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is reportedly set to remain in the ambassador’s residence in Herzliya even after it is sold to US billionaire Sheldon Adelson for NIS 300 million ($88.4 million).
According to a report Monday in the financial daily Globes, the sale of the property will include a clause that will allow Friedman to continue renting the house from its new owner after the purchase is finalized.
US President Donald Trump moved his country’s embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018 after formally recognizing the city as Israel’s capital in December 2017. But despite the embassy move, Freidman has continued living in the Herzliya residence, commuting between there and his Jerusalem office.
Friedman, who has an official residence in Jerusalem on Agron Street, cannot live there until it is extensively renovated, due to security concerns.
“The Department of State has recently selected the buyer for the sale of the former Chief of Mission Residence in Herzliya, Israel,” the spokesman for the US embassy in Israel said. “The embassy will vacate the Chief of Mission Residence in spring of 2021.”
When finalized, Adelson’s purchase of the 11,000-square-foot villa, sitting atop 1.2 acres of seaside property, will be the most ever paid for an Israeli home, breaking the record set earlier this year by Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich, who paid NIS 226 million ($64.5 million) for a home in the same neighborhood, Globes reported.
The price reflects its location on Galei Tchelet Street, considered Israel’s most expensive, with its views of the Mediterranean. It is home to several ambassadors and billionaires.