The Trump Organization formally notifies the GSA of the proposed sale of DC hotel

“The GSA has been formally notified of the proposed transfer and is required to conduct a thorough review to ensure compliance with all legal and contractual requirements,” a GSA spokeswoman said.

CNN reported last month that the Trump organization reached an agreement to sell the lease for the Old Post Office Building to the Miami-based investment group CGI Merchant Group for $ 375 million. CGI, as part of the deal, reached an operating and branding agreement with Hilton Hotels to operate the hotel under the Waldorf-Astoria brand, said people familiar with the deal.

Before the lease transfer can be completed, the GSA must review and sign the terms of the agreement and ensure that the buyer is eligible as it is federal property.

There is a 45-day review period once the GSA has received all the information it needs to confirm that the proposed buyer is qualified, including having a good business reputation, sufficient financial capacity, access to liquidity and previous experience with to run a hotel with full service.

“The 45-day clock has not started. We have requested additional information about the proposed transfer, and once we receive a complete set of documentation, the 45-day period will begin,” the GSA spokeswoman said.

CGI and Hilton have teamed up on several properties in recent months, including a collection of boutique hotels in Miami’s South Beach area and an investment in Atlanta’s Morris Brown College to develop a hotel training complex.

The sale comes as the Trump organization continues to face scrutiny. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating the firm, and whether it manipulated the value of its properties as they secured financing and assessed taxes, CNN has reported.

Trump opened the DC Hotel in 2016 during his presidential campaign, and it has been controversial ever since. It attracted foreign governments and raised questions about whether the constitutional remuneration clause had been violated.

It has also been the subject of congressional scrutiny. In October, the House Oversight Committee released documents showing that the DC property, which attracted conservative lobbyists throughout the Trump presidency, lost $ 70 million while in office. (The former president had publicly claimed that the hotel earned tens of thousands of millions of dollars in revenue.) The company has been trying to sell the property since 2019, but stopped last year when the pandemic nearly shut down the hospitality industry.

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