Donald Trump’s exit from his Washington, D.C., hotel could net him a nine-figure payday.
The former president could score a profit of more than $100 million from the sale of Trump International in the nation’s capital, according to the Washington Post.
CGI Merchant Group was reported last month to be in contract to buy the hotel lease for $375 million. Experts told the outlet the Old Post Office building’s historical significance, the hotel’s unique position among the city’s luxury hospitality properties and a hot hotel market likely boosted the sale price — and the former president’s potential profit.
Trump owes Deutsche Bank $170 million he borrowed for the project. He would also owe the General Services Administration part of the sales price, estimated to be less than $10 million. The Post reported the figures from financial documents, combined with the $3 million in annual rent Trump has been paying the GSA, show his profit could come out to more than $100 million.
If the sale closes, the 263-key hotel will drop the Trump name, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. CGI is reportedly working with Hilton Worldwide Holdings to have the hotel branded and managed by Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Group.
The contracted purchase price works out to about $1.43 million per key. According to the Post, that would easily surpass the per key record set by the 2016 sale of Capella Hotel Georgetown, which worked out to $1.3 million per key.
The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2022.
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The Trump Organization won approval to redevelop the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue in 2012, beating out the likes of Hilton and Marriott. The company agreed to spend an estimated $200 million renovating the property.
After Trump took office the former president resigned from his companies while putting his assets in a trust run by his sons, allowing Trump to continue benefiting financially. The move sparked worries about domestic and foreign interests using the hotel after its opening in 2016 to curry favor with Trump’s administration.
In October, the House Oversight Committee released documents detailing losses of more than $70 million at the hotel during the Trump presidency. The documents also revealed a loan of more than $27 million made by one of Trump’s holding companies, as well as the $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank.
The Trump Organization previously tried to sell the lease for $500 million, though the price dropped closer to $400 million after Newmark took over marketing from JLL, which departed in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
[WaPo] — Holden Walter-Warner