Former President Donald Trump’s company is reportedly closing in on a deal to sell its lease on the iconic Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, for more than $370 million.
CGI Merchant Group, a Miami-based investment firm, is in talks to acquire the lease on the 19th-century building, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The 122-year-old building, which is just a few blocks from the White House in the former Old Post Office Pavilion, is still owned by the federal government, but with extensions, the lease runs close to 100 years.
CGI has already held discussions with hotel operators, including Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria brand, about replacing the Trump name with that of another hotel manager, the Journal reported.
The deal could ultimately price closer to $400 million, the Journal noted — but still less than the $500 million payday they sought when they first shopped the lease in 2019.
The Trump Organization leased the building from the General Services Administration in 2013 and gave it a $250 million renovation to turn it into a luxury hotel before opening it to guests in 2016.
It opened its doors just weeks before the presidential election that swept Trump into the White House.
As president, Trump hosted dozens of dinners in the hotel’s restaurant and caught flak from ethics watchdogs for encouraging administration officials to visit the facility.
One group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, logged 973 visits to the hotel by public officials during Trump’s term in office.
Still, the coronavirus pandemic took a toll on the hotel as it did with many luxury hotels around the country.
Last week, a report from the House committee on oversight and reform found that the hotel lost more than $70 million between its opening in 2016 and last year, despite the boost in sales to foreign governments.
The Trump Organization had to inject $27 million from other parts of its business into the hotel and get preferential treatment from a major lender to delay payments on a $170 million loan to support the ailing property, the report found.
The Trump Organization has disputed those findings.
“People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and therefore we may be willing to sell,” son Eric Trump told the Wall Street Journal in 2019, when the family first put the lease on the market.
