Former President Donald Trump’s organization is selling its Washington, D.C., hotel to the CGI Merchant Group for $375 million.
Eric Trump, a son of the former president and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Miami Herald via email that there were “heavy hearts all around” when it came to the sale.
“I think it’s safe to say no public figure in the history of the United States has been persecuted the way President Trump has,” he added.
CGI Merchant Group made an agreement with Hilton Worldwide Holdings to turn the Trump International Hotel into a Waldorf Astoria, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report said the deal is expected to conclude in early 2022.
The decision to go with the Waldorf Astoria was allegedly part of moving the building away from politics. During the Trump administration, the hotel was a hot spot for Republicans.
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“If it becomes affiliated with a luxury brand, that brand can create a new identity for the property,” said Sean Hennessey, chief executive of Lodging Advisors.
A Democrat-led committee in the House of Representatives is leading an investigation into the Trump hotel, citing a possible conflict of interest because his company continued to own the hotel during his presidency. However, the Trump organization disputes the conflict of interest, claiming the building itself was owned by the federal government’s General Services Administration and that a check was made to the Treasury Department for all money made from foreign dignitaries hoping to curry favor with the president.
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The Trump hotel company received the right to lease the building in 2012, years before he announced he would be entering politics. However, the hotel opened in 2016, just before he won the presidency. The company invested approximately $200 million to renovate the building into an expensive hotel, but the hotel lost $70 million in the past four years, according to the House committee.
It is not known how much the Trump family itself is making from the deal.
