UAE Snaps Up Spec Home in DC Area for $28M

While a housing boom is bubbling up in the United Arab Emirates, the nation is making waves in the Washington, D.C. area.

The government of the United Arab Emirates recently closed on the property at 6501 Bright Mountain Road in McLean, Virginia for $27.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal marks the most expensive in the capital region this year, according to local real estate agents.

The off-market deal for the 21,000-square-foot spec home breaks down to $1,310 per square foot. The home was listed for $29.9 million last July before being taken off the market in May, when TTR Sotheby’s International Realty’s Daniel Heider took on the listing; it went into contract this month.

Sonu Kakar’s Ambar Homes purchased the land for the property for $2.1 million in 2018, beginning construction in 2022 and wrapping last year. The main house has six bedrooms, while the grounds also include a poolhouse.

The Emiratis are single-handedly responsible for reshaping parts of the McLean real estate market. All told, the country either directly or indirectly owns 21 properties in the region worth a combined total in excess of $200 million. It has ramped up activity in recent years, parallel to the country’s close ties to President Donald Trump.

The nation acquired 18 acres at 1019, 1049 and 1079 Crest Land nearly four years ago for a shocking $55 million in a single, off-market deal that was never recorded with the local multiple listing service. The seller was a trust linked to Richard Adams Jr., founder of UUnet Technologies.

The country is plotting a compound with three living spaces, as well as an 11,500-square-foot gym.

A spokesperson for the country’s embassy did not respond to a request for comment from the Journal.

The U.A.E. is not the only Middle East nation to dabble in McLean’s real estate market. The government of Saudi Arabia plunked down $43 million for the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 2018.

— Holden Walter-Warner