WASHINGTON: Pakistan has sold the abandoned embassy building in Washington for $7.1 million, buyers and the embassy confirmed on Thursday.

The building has been vacant since 2003 and declared a “blighted property” by the local government. Its diplomatic status was revoked in 2018 and the building had become a liability for the embassy. A Pakistani American businessman from Dallas, Hafeez Khan, has purchased the property.

At a ceremony, held at a hotel in Washington, Pakistan’s Ambas­sador Masood Khan confirmed the sale, hoping that this would “end media speculations” about the property.

He said other buildings in the embassy’s possession were not for sale, although at least one of them was still vacant. Mr Khan said the building would require extensive restoration before they could decide what to do with it.

“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,” Mr 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.

The building in Washington’s diplomatic enclave, used to be a chancery in the past and was put up for auction late last year. The government received three bids and apparently accepted one but later stopped the process without giving any reason.

The highest bidder had offered $6.8 million for the property, which sits in the heart of the city. Pre-auction evaluation of the building was set for $4.5 million as a benchmark.

The building has been unoccupied for well over a decade. Since it was not looked after properly, the building deteriorated. 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.

Some of the loan was used to restore the main building but this building was left to decay. The main building also remains vacant, although it was repaired years ago, at a cost of more than a million dollars.

Real estate experts warn that the money spent on its restoration will also be wasted if its fate was not decided soon.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023