Many US media reported, on Sunday, that the Trump company, owned by US President Donald Trump, will sell the rent of its luxury hotel in Washington for $ 375 million to the CGI Merchant Group, which plans to rename the institution now called Trump International Hotel.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, CGI Merchant Group has entered into another agreement with the Hilton Hotel Group, which will operate through its Waldorf Astoria subsidiary, which will give the hotel its name.
Asked by AFP, a spokesperson for CGI Merchant Group declined to comment. Upon contact, neither the Trump Organization nor the Hilton Group followed up immediately.
It is located a few hundred meters from the White House, a little further from the Capitol, and the building in which the hotel is located is not affiliated with the Trump Organization.
It is owned by the US government, which has been renting it since 2013 to the former head of the state real estate group, on a 60-year lease, with a clause providing for the possibility of extension for another 40 years.
The Trump Organization will invest approximately $200 million in renovating this listed building, which was built at the end of the 19th century to house the main post office in the federal capital.
According to a report from the House Oversight Committee, Trump Old Post Office LLC, a special-purpose company set up to manage the hotel, posted losses of more than $71 million between the hotel’s opening in 2016 and the end of August 2020. It’s never really taken a profit.
During Donald Trump’s presidential term, the institution, known for its gigantic atrium and neo-Romanesque tower, became a meeting place for elected Republicans, donors, and lobbyists.
Many elected officials and dignitaries, at that time, were impressed by the fact that the hotel, with 263 rooms, was able to accommodate foreign dignitaries visiting Washington.
They argued the potential conflict of interest for Donald Trump, the president of the United States and still a shareholder in the Trump Organization, in which he has kept his shares.
The investigation by the supervisory committee is still ongoing.
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