GOVERNMENT SELLING FOREIGN ASSETS BEFORE GOING: Pakistan-owned Washington building sold for $7.1m

Pakistan’s embassy building, which was vacant since 2003 and declared a “blighted property” by the local government in Washington, has been sold for $7.1 million to a Pakistani American businessman from Dallas, Hafeez Khan.

The buyers and the embassy confirmed the news on Thursday, reports Dawn.

The building had become a liability for the embassy after its diplomatic status was revoked in 2018. During a ceremony, Pakistan’s AmbasĀ­sador Masood Khan confirmed the sale, hoping that this would “end media speculations” about the property.

Although one other property remains vacant, the embassy has no plans to sell it at the moment due to the required extensive restoration it will need before it is placed on the market, he added.

“When I heard about the sale, I thought it should be purchased by a Pakistani American because we have an emotional attachment to this property. That’s why I purchased it,” Hafeez said.

Earlier this year, the city government downgraded the property classification of the building to blighted and increased taxes on its assessed value as well, says Dawn.

Although the pre-auction evaluation of the building was set for $4.5 million as a benchmark, the highest bidder had offered $6.8 million for the property,

Since the building had been unoccupied for more than a decade and had deteriorated over time, in 2010, then-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani approved a $7 million loan from the National Bank of Pakistan for repairing it and another building, which housed the embassy.

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