Trump reaches $375m deal to sell Washington hotel

Donald Trump's family business has an agreement to sell its marquee Washington hotel, reaching a deal to fetch at least $375 million (€327 million) for a property that prompted ethical scrutiny and struggled to make money even as it drew steady crowds of lobbyists, lawmakers and Trump loyalists.

The deal so far is what is known as a purchase and sale agreement, meaning a final sale of the Trump International Hotel has not taken place and may not happen until early next year, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The sale of the lease of the hotel, which operates out of a landmark federal building on Pennsylvania Avenue, comes after years of financial losses at the property, which opened in 2016, shortly before Trump was elected president. Still, with the significant price of the planned sale, the Trump family is expected to turn a profit on the overall investment.

Rename

The buyer of the lease is CGI Merchant Group, a minority-owned real estate investment firm in Miami, according to the people briefed on details of the pending transaction, which was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal. CGI is exploring a deal to rename the hotel, based in the Old Post Office building, under the Waldorf Astoria luxury brand. The sale must first be approved by the General Services Administration, the federal agency that controls the property. From the time of its opening, the hotel immediately drew crowds of Trump supporters and favour-seekers.

For a businessman president, it was the ideal bridge between his two worlds: a Trump hotel five blocks from the Trump White House. This blurring between Trump's business and his presidency fuelled attacks from congressional Democrats who charged that he used the property as the hub of an influence-peddling operation. Trump's critics filed lawsuits against him, arguing the business that the hotel received from foreign governments violated the so-called emoluments clause of the constitution, which prohibits federal officials from taking gifts or payments from other governments.

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CGI did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times.