Zimbabwe Rebuilding Official Residence in Rye
The Government of Zimbabwe is planning to rebuild its official residence in Rye, to be used by the head of its United Nations Mission. The prior home was lost in a multi-alarm fire in the early hours of Saturday, September 14th, 2019. The Republic of Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east.
Zimbabwe tendered expressions of interest in July related to the construction of the official residence in Rye as well as the demolition and construction of a new chancery in Manhattan. It is expected a single architectural consultant will be hired for both the residence and the chancery.
The official residence will be rebuilt at the 167 Grandview Avenue site (on the corner of High Street), still owned by the Government of Zimbabwe. After the 2019 fire, the home was demolished to the ground level and the pool was filled in.
Bidding and other public documents show Zimbabwe is looking for an extensive official residence on the 1.02 acre lot. It references looking at a residence approaching the prior one–6,950 square feet on three floors with ten bedrooms, a three car garage, pool and event space.
The current bidding on the official residence is for the design and construction supervision only. Zimbabwe has extended the original bidding response time by three weeks until August 22, 2022.
