The US State Department has agreed to sell the current London embassy building to the Doha-based Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company.
The embassy is planning to move to a new “state-of-the-art” building in Nine Elms which Embassy officials will be completed “by 2016 or 2017”.
The Grosvenor Square building was recently granted Grade II status after a recommendation by English Heritage on the basis that the building has “special interest in a national context”. Property experts say the listing could decrease the price the US might have achieved for the site.
The embassy currently owes Londoners in excess of £3m in unpaid congestion charge fees and penalties.