The new U.S. Embassy complex constructed at Clayton was inaugurated September 18, 2007 by Ambassador William Eaton and Panama 's First Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro. The site (which includes part of the Cardenas area) is on Demetrio B. Lakas Avenue (formerly Clayton Abrook Road) set back well away from the road and near the Esclavas School (the former Curundu Elementary School until 1999) close to  the back gate entrance to Clayton. (The Esclavas School was previously near Paitilla circle in Panama City.)  Construction, by Caddell Construction Company, Inc. (selected from among six U.S. firms competing for the project), began in early 2005 on the estimated $67 million compound that now houses the U.S. Embassy previously on Balboa Boulevard in Panama City since 1942, the U.S. Consulate, and other U.S. Government agencies in Panama City.                             

While the Embassy was under construction, the U.S. Consulate moved from downtown Panama City (one block from the Embassy to Building 520 (next to Building 519) at Clayton temporarily in 2006 and moved into the new Embassy complex in September 2007. 

In 1938 the site on Balboa Avenue was leased from the Government of Panama for 999 years. The chancery building was constructed under the supervision of the Foreign Buildings Office of the Department of State in 1941. The total cost of the land and construction was $366,719.

The first diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Republic of Panama was established in 1904, the year after Panama achieved independence from Colombia (November 3rd, 1903). The first American Minister was William L. Buchanan of Covington, Ohio. The American Legation was for many years located at the corner of Central Avenue and Fourth Street . It was raised to the status of Embassy in 1939 and moved to its current location on April 2, 1942 .

The United States first established a consular office in Panama in 1833 when Panama was a department of Colombia. It became a Consulate General on September 3, 1884 and was combined with the Embassy on April 6, 1942 . Earliest available records of the Consulate date from 1910 when the Consulate was located in the Diario de Panama Building near the Presidential Palace. It was then moved to the Marina Building across from the Presidential Palace. It subsequently moved to several other buildings in Panama City.  [History of the Embassy from the U.S. Embassy website at http://panama.usembassy.gov/about_the_embassy.html .]