The biggest issue here is the dishonesty in the reporting by the NY Times.
I don't know anyone who lives in a home worth less than 52k. Maybe an old single wide mobile on a piece of swamp land.
Gov't move slowly, if it was installed in early 2017 it was contracted in 2016. As hard as it may be to believe once a gov't contract is signed it is nearly impossible to stop it. There have been more times than you can count that new construction or repair contracts have been made just prior to disposal of a property, the contract is completed then the building is closed, sold, given away etc..... This happened at so many bases in Germany it is sad, I see it multiple times a year in the states as well. One DOD building was due to get new furniture, the entire building, one month after the furniture was installed, they closed the building and left the brand new furniture. Another they spent $400,000 to update a maint building at a facility scheduled to close, finished the project, then gave the building away to a local gov't. It is wast on a massive scale.
I did not say it was fake news I said it was misleading, the article is clearly written to blame Haley, and pretty much does so before and after the short mention that this was done BEFORE she was even chosen to fill the job. It is dishonest at best and IMHO poor journalism.
The apartment is on First Avenue. I would be willing to bet the curtains are made from aramid fibers to provide ballistic protection for the ambassador from sniper attack. I would be interested in seeing how much influence Diplomatic Secuity had in their purchase.
What's the word from Nikki Haley ?
I'm sure she doesn't want to be associated with the rest of the Trumpf Swamp Creatures ...
Untold numbers of New Yorkers have fled the city and invaded New Jersey, entire towns in North Jersey have been torn down and rebuilt with modern housing. Hoboken is one of them, home to the holland tunnel and bam in 10 minutes your NYC. There are other towns along that border the hudson the same thing, condos and townhouses where there were old single and multifamily buildings.