Qatar buys the American Embassy in London

The Telegraph ^ | 11/3/2009 | Graham Ruddick

[markomalley]

The deal for the Chancery building in London’s Grosvenor Square with Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment was agreed by the US Ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman.

[markomalley]

A hotel...what a concept.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

I wonder what is the motivating force for the move? Surely not simply cash?

The current location is an extremely high-price area.

[Buckeye McFrog]

that was OUR Embassy? From that photo I would have guessed it was the former Soviet Ministry for Crummy Architecture.

[bgill]

So, we’ll have Qatar as our landlord for 6-7 years. As the landlord, will they send in their own own special maintenance crews?

[Freddd]

In a statement, the US State Department said:

“With the signing of this contract the United States takes another step towards relocating to a new state-of-the-art embassy which ‘will enhance the urban fabric’ of London and demonstrate exceptional American architecture.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

Yeah, I read the article. But that doesn't exactly explain the motivation for the move, does it.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

It doesn’t look so bad from the ground. That’s the back. No one ever sees that.

[GeronL]

That thing is HUGE*. . . . . . . . . . ^{* Something I'll never hear from a girl}

[CondorFlight]

The embassy was specially designed to be able to keep protesters out, and access to floors above the first floor (where exhibits were open to the public) could be strictly limited.

It also had a giant American eagle on it (to which some Londoners protested). (But we kept the eagle.)

I’m sorry to lose it. And I’m sure the new one won’t be nearly as “secure” nor as “American”...

[HardStarboard]

>>>But that doesn't exactly explain the motivation for the move, does it.<<<<

They need places to invest all those dollars from oil and US payments for our bases there.

You think this is wrong, wait until China decides to unload all their dollars and buy up the United States!

The flood of China dollars will fuel inflation here like crazy.

[Mr Inviso]

“It doesn’t look so bad from the ground. That’s the back. No one ever sees that.”

It’s an eyesore for the area it’s in. It doesn’t fit in at all. the building might have been good once, but it was VERY shabby-looking when I was there 5 years ago. It doesn’t help to have all those Jersey barriers around it, either.

You DEFINITELY don’t get to see it from the back. I was going to take a picture of the back of it, and was told VERY sternly by a Bobby with an MP5 submachine gun not to take any pictures. There are a whole bunch of antennas back there, which are probably what they don’t want captured on film.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

“told VERY sternly by a Bobby with an MP5 submachine gun not to take any pictures”

They are much quicker to assert that you have no rights in Britain. I bet he wouldn’t have said that to a group of Japanese tourists. The police are so random in Britain. Suddenly, if he feels like it, you can’t take pictures. Any passing satellite or ‘plane can get any pictures. I hate how the police so randomly assert such things in Britain. Like the guy who was told he couldn’t have an English flag in his car. They think they have WAY too much power. It comes with the European psychological contract - they expect to be ruled.

Any aerials you don’t want people seeing you put inside radomes.

[MattAMiller]

So, we’ll have Qatar as our landlord for 6-7 years. As the landlord, will they send in their own own special maintenance crews? No. US Embassies have their own maintenance crews. A good deal of embassy building are rented but landlords pretty much have no say in anything but getting their check. Also the US has agreements with other countries to protect each other from surveilence. If you take a picture of a US Embassy anywhere in the western world you're likely to be stopped.