President Trump’s controversial namesake hotel in Washington, DC, just a few blocks from Pennsylvania’s White House Avenue, is on sale for up to $ 500 million.
Patricia Tang, director of sales and marketing at Trump International Hotel Washington, DC, confirmed to CBS News on Friday that real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle has been hired to market the luxury hotel to buyers. He also confirmed that the Trump Organization expects to raise up to $ 500 million for its 100-year leasehold rights for government property, or about $ 2 million per room.
The Trump organization told the Associated Press that the potential sale was in part to avoid criticism of conflicts of interest. The Trump International Hotel, which opened in late 2016 just before Mr. Trump was elected, he has been a magnet for pressure groups and diplomats seeking to win the administration’s favor.
“People oppose us making so much money with the hotel, so we can be willing to sell,” Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said in a statement. “Since we opened our doors, we have received a lot of interest in this hotel and, as real estate developers, we are always ready to explore our options.”
The Trump organization opened the luxury hotel in the Washington Post Office building a few months before Trump was elected president in 2016, and has since faced criticism and demands. Earlier this month, a federal court of appeals he said he would reconsider a previous ruling dismissing a lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of illegally taking advantage of the presidency through his involvement in the hotel.
According to the financial disclosure report of Mr. Trump in 2018 earned more than $ 100 million with his properties, including nearly $ 41 million from the Washington Hotel last year.
Trump’s financial disclosure report provides a snapshot of his business income
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Government ethics officials say the hotel president’s ownership could create conflicts of interest. A Washington Post report, for example, found that a pressure company with ties to the Saudi government paid $ 270,000 at the Trump Hotel in Washington between October 2016 and March 2017.
The news of the Washington hotel’s entry into the market comes as the Trump Organization appears to be making moves to move its business away from the organization’s namesake. Last week, Mr. Trump tweeted that the White House no longer considered the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort to host the 2020 G-7 meeting, as previously announced. Trump’s name was also recently removed from two popular ice skating rinks in New York City that have long been run by the president’s company.
The Trump Organization, based on an agreement it signed in 2013, pays the federal government $ 250,000 a month to rent the Post Office building. As part of the deal, the Trump family business agreed to renovate the property and eventually spent more than $ 200 million when the hotel opened in late 2016, according to Bloomberg.
Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert and critic of Trump, said the Trump Organization could be selling now because it fears profits will fall if the president is not elected.
“There’s no reason to think that Republican Party or trade association officials who want to get the next president’s favor will choose this hotel,” Clark, a law professor at the University of Washington in St. Louis, told AP. Louis. “It will be another luxury hotel.”
Other good government critics saw danger in the sale itself: will the buyer pay more than the hotel is worth in an attempt to get along with the administration? What if the buyer is from abroad?
“If the Trump Organization puts up a ‘For Sale’ sign at the Trump International Hotel and seeks and accepts offers, it will create massive conflicts of interest with deep-pocket individuals, foreign governments, mutual funds, or corporations that may allow us to make a purchase like that, “Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a liberal-leaning consumer advocacy group, told AP.
In his statement, Eric Trump addressed concerns about conflicts of interest noting that the company cuts a check to the U.S. Treasury each year for what it calculates as a “profit” from foreign government business on its hotels and other properties. That was $ 191,538 last year, up from $ 151,470 the year before.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that the hotel was for sale.
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