By Anessa Cohen

My usual start to the day is a behemoth-size cup of coffee to get my brain functioning, and then while I have breakfast, I go through my messages and e-mails from those clients who are early risers.

Monday morning, May 14, was a little different than usual, since the first thing I wanted to do as soon as I got up was turn on the TV to watch the ceremony in Israel for the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem. Since this ceremony was obviously not of the morning’s usual selection, I quickly searched for the channel with the best viewing and hearing setup and watched and listened as my coffee brewed and everything else sat untended.

To think it took 70 years of Israeli statehood to get to the point of having the U.S. Embassy finally situated in Jerusalem is mind-blowing, but I wonder how many of us thought about how fitting it is that this happened in the week before Shavuot. I guess the phrase “timing is everything” is correct, because even though any time would have been wonderful to celebrate the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, it’s especially joyful that the celebration took place just before Shavuot.

Hopefully, this will be the beginning of even more exciting things to come for Israel, and the opening of the U.S. Embassy will be an appetizer enticing many more countries to follow suit and move their embassies to Jerusalem as well.

Now that the U.S. Embassy will be located in the neighborhood of Arnona, I wonder how this will affect that neighborhood and its environs in the years to come.

Arnona has always been a sleepy neighborhood, located on the outskirts of Jerusalem, bordering the end of Jerusalem and the entrance to Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. Kibbutz Ramat Rachel used to be a kibbutz that was far from the outskirts of Jerusalem; but somehow, with all the construction in Jerusalem since 1967, it became attached to it at its very edge.

As for Arnona, this area was considered “out in the boondocks,” straddling the no man’s land with Jordan. Now with the U.S. Embassy at home there, I can see this neighborhood becoming trendy and expensive down the road as the “who’s who” decide to build or buy there. This can mean an entire realignment of the Jerusalem neighborhood. It may even eventually be recognized as a central part of Jerusalem, bringing all kinds of transportation hubs into that area, and reconfiguring mostly modest homes and buildings into highly developed luxury apartment complexes for the embassy dignitaries who will now need housing close to the new location of their respective embassies.

Lots of new things to look forward to! Chag Sameach! 

Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a licensed real estate broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) and a licensed N.Y.S. loan officer (FM Home Loans) with over 20 years of experience offering full-service residential, commercial, and management real estate services as well as mortgage services. She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or via her website, www.AVCrealty.com. Readers are encouraged to send questions or comments to anessa@AVCrealty.com.

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