Donald Trump has cancelled his trip to London to open the new US embassy, saying its move from 24 Grosvenor Square, W1, to 33 Nine Elms Lane, SW11, Lane was a “bad deal”.
The US president tweeted that he was “not a big fan” of the move, blaming the Obama administration for selling “the best located and finest embassy in London for peanuts” and moving to an “off location”.
The US State Department signed a conditional agreement with Ballymore to move its London embassy to the Nine Elms site in October 2008 – a month before Barack Obama was elected president.
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
At the time, Robert Tuttle, then US ambassador to the UK, said: “This has been a long and careful process. We looked at all our options, including renovation of our current building on Grosvenor Square.
“In the end, we realised that the goal of a modern, secure and environmentally sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility.”
Tuttle added that he was “excited” about the US playing a role in the regeneration of South Bank.
Qatari Diar bought the Grosvenor Square building in November 2009 for an undisclosed price.
The new US embassy, which is carbon negative and has a BREEAM Outstanding rating, will open to the public on 16 January.
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