The Trump Organisation has reportedly reached an agreement to sell the rights to its Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. to CGI Merchant Group for US$375 million according to Wall Street Journal.
The sale is part of a planned deal of the investment firm, and the hotel will be renamed Waldorf Astoria. The management of the new hotel falls under the Hilton Group.
In 2012, the Trump Organisation won approval from the federal government to redevelop the Old Post Office building and opened its doors in 2016, just months before Donald Trump was inaugurated. The luxury hotel is located nearby the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. It has been on-and-off the market since 2019.
The sale comes one month after The House of Committee on Oversight and Reform published a report on the hotel’s finances. The former president claimed the hotel made US$150 million while he was in office, but the congressional committee uncovered that it lost more than US$70 million in the four years since opening.
The report also stated that Trump had “concealed potential conflicts of interest” while leasing the hotel. Throughout his presidency, there were reports suggesting foreign government officials and other interest groups stayed at the hotel to gain favour with Trump. Documents have shown that the hotel received US$3.7 million in payments from foreign governments.
According to the committee, that’s enough to cover 7,400 nights at the hotel on an average daily rate. The Trump Organization has since disputed those findings and called the report “misleading.”
Given its very messy history, the hotel could benefit from rebranding to Waldorf Astoria. CGI Merchant Group is expected to close the deal in the first quarter of 2022.
Also in the market is Prince Charles’ former country estate. A six-bedroom home sitting on nine acres of land in Dartmoor National Park. The estate also comes with fishing rights, and whoever buys the estate might receive a visit from his royal highness for a bit of fishing.
For more property reads, click here.