The US Embassy in Jerusalem found a residence for Ambassador Tom Nides, more than a year after it stopped using the palatial home it once owned in Herzliya, a source with knowledge of the matter has confirmed.
The new residence is off of Jerusalem’s Emek Refaim Street, a busy thoroughfare of cafes and boutiques, as well as historic homes.
The old, Arab-style building is in a compound surrounded by walls at the site of what used to be a flower shop. A developer renovated the structure and built two buildings on the site, all of which appear to be part of the ambassador’s new residence.
Nides has lived at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel since arriving in Israel about six months ago, but was unable to host guests there, using the old Jerusalem consulate building on Agron Street instead.
Previous ambassadors lived in a large home with a pool overlooking the beach in Herzliya. The State Department sold the home, reportedly to pro-Israel billionaire and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, on the advice of former ambassador David Friedman after the previous administration moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem. The embassy retained the house until Friedman finished his tenure as ambassador.
