[1] The mufti transferred the right to live there to his personal secretary, George Antonius and his wife Katy, who were local celebrities and hosted parties and social gatherings there.

The Custodian of Arab Property sold the building and surrounding land in 1985 to Irving Moskowitz, a Jewish-American businessman, supporter of Israeli settlers activities in East Jerusalem, who renamed it the "Sheffer Hotel.

But on July 2, 2009, at the height of U.S. efforts to press Israel to adopt a settlement freeze in order to get the peace process going, the Local Planning Committee of the Jerusalem Municipality approved the request, which included the destruction of the existing buildings on the property, except for the historic structure designated for preservation.

The U.S. government voiced its displeasure over the project to Israel's Washington ambassador in 2009 after the plan received the green light from the Municipality, a direct challenge to President Barack Obama's effort to launch negotiations toward Israeli–Palestinian and Israeli–Arab peace.

Construction was delayed for six months due to a dispute with a son of Faisal al-Husseini, a former Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem affairs, who claimed that the family owned part of the parking lot.