JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. Embassy in Israel has put the ambassador’s official residence up for sale and stands to sell it for a record-breaking price.
The asking price for the home in Herzliya, which has a spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea, is 300 million shekels, or $87 million, the Israeli business daily Globes reported.
If the embassy gets its asking price, it would 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 11,000-square-foot villa built in the 1960s likely would be demolished and a new home built on the desirable property, according to the report. The United States purchased the property in 1962.
According to Globes, the embassy said the decision to sell the property is part of the transfer of the U.S. Embassy, and most of its activities, to Jerusalem. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, lives in “official residences in Jerusalem,” the embassy said.
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