According to two people familiar with the talks, President Donald Trump’s company is considering selling or leasing his D.C. hotel. Trump is in advanced talks about a deal to sell the marquee Washington, DC hotel to the Wall Street Journal for the rights to it and DCIN in a deal valued over $370 million, said people who didn’t want to be identified because the talks are private. The CGI said it has begun talks with hotel operators including the luxury brand Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.’s Waldorf Astoria to remove the Trump name in favor of a hotel manager. A lease could bring in up to $400 million and double the money the Trump Organization has spent converting the former post office into a luxury hotel, one of the people said.
President Donald Trump’s company says it is considering an offer to buy his 100-year lease on its marquee Washington hotel, which has been at the center of ethics complaints and lawsuits for three years, accusing him of trying to profit from the presidency and avoid criticism of conflicts of interest. The CGI Merchant Group, a Miami-based investment firm, is in talks with hotel operators such as Hilton Luxury and Waldorf Astoria, whose brands removed the Trump Organization name from the hotel. A deal to sell the hotel for $370 million to $400 million could fetch that price, and it would almost double the money the Trumps have spent to turn it into swanky accommodations.
The Trump Organization struck out major hotels for business rentals, including Marriott and Hilton. Members of the Trump family (L-R) Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump break ground on July 23 at Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. The hotel opened in late 2016 shortly after Trump’s election and was in the center of two lawsuits accusing it of violating the US Constitution’s compensation clause that prevents the president from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments.
A federal appeals court is reviewing the decision of a three-judge panel that dismissed a lawsuit accused president Donald Trump of profiting from the presidency through the Trump International Hotel. It is likely that Mr. Trump will sell the leasing rights to a real estate developer or negotiate with a hotel company to administer and rename the property. The financially troubled state of the hotel follows reports that President Trump is for the first time removed from the ultra-exclusive Forbes 400 list of America’s richest people after taking office in 1996, which is worth $400 million this year, according to the company.
The Trump Organization will put the hotels up for sale in June 2023. Financial information for other Trump-branded properties in New York and Chicago shows signs of declining business since Trump took office, but the GSA has not released financial data for the hotel. After Donald J. Trump leaves office, the House Oversight Committee will continue its investigation, revealing in October 2023 that the Trump International Hotel received at least $37 million from foreign governments, in violation of the Foreign Aid Clause of the US Constitution.
Trump will continue to own his businesses and own real estate, including the hotel, leading to allegations of a conflict of interest. In 2019, the Trump Organization announced it was exploring a possible sale of the hotel rental. After Trump left office, the D.C. hotel reported $170 million in outstanding loans, with loans still outstanding and revenue declining.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the hotel had a net loss of $70 million during Trump’s presidency. The Trump Organization had promised to spend $200 million to transform the 250-room structure (104, the sources said) into 261 rooms and 118 luxury hotels. City officials asked to reopen the half block of C Street NW south of the hotel with redevelopment money, but the Trump Organization rejected the request.
An official motorcade races down Pennsylvania Avenue near the International Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., on January 24, 2019. Several lawsuits accuse Trump of violating the Constitution’s ban on payments from foreign governments when foreign officials visit the hotel.
