Trump Finalizes 60-Year Lease for DC’s Old Post Office Building, Luxury Hotel Could Open by 2016
By Billy Gray June 6, 2013 7:45 am
reprintsDonald Trump told The Commercial Observer that his upcoming hotel in Washington DC’s Old Post Office Pavilion “will be as luxurious as any hotel in this country and beyond.”
The Trump Organization announced yesterday that it had completed negotiations for a 60-year lease to redevelop and manage the 114-year-old property at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue. Redevelopment is expected to begin in 2014, with a roughly 260-room hotel slated to open in 2016. The agreement between The Trump Organization and the US General Services Administration will now go to Congress for a 30-day review period.
“It’s going to be really great,” Mr. Trump said. “There’s tremendous potential. We’ll make it magnificent and return the building to its original glory.” The agreement states that $200 million of private sector funds will go toward the restoration of the federal building on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street in the heart of the nation’s capital.
The federal government 15 months ago selected Mr. Trump’s hotel company to redefine the Old Post Office Pavilion as a mixed-use luxury property. (Mr. Trump is the father-in-law of Jared Kusher, publisher of The Commercial Observer.) The intervening months have been spent hammering out financial and other details.
Under final terms of the lease, historic features of the structure will be preserved during the restoration. Current government tenants including the National Endowment for the Arts will relocate. Trump International Hotel, The Old Post Office will include restaurants, ballroom facilities, conference halls and a large spa.
