Buyer of Former Trump Hotel in Historic D.C. Post Office Building, Now a Waldorf Astoria, Defaulted on Loan Payments

The Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C.
The new owner of what was once the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., Miami-based investor CGI Merchant Group, defaulted on a $285 million loan related to the property, it is understood.  The luxury hotel, which was located in the historic Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C., is now a Waldorf Astoria.
Located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, the building itself is a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.
The Trump Organization closed on the deal to sell the lease to the historic Old Post Office building, the crown jewel of its hotel operation, for $375 million in April 2022.
The missed payments on that loan reflect and the above-market price the firm paid the Trumps, industry executives say.
CGI CEO Raoul Thomas told the Wall Street Journal he attempting to line up $100 million of new financing for the property.
The Old Post Office Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The hotel has 263 guest rooms, 35 of which are suites, including the Trump Townhouse, a 6,300-square-foot (585-square-meter) space with a private entrance that is likely to be renamed after the reflagging.
The property was originally put on the block in the fall of 2019 but the ensuing pandemic thwarted sales efforts.
The hotel itself is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, less than a mile from the White House. That 1899 building was slated for demolition in the 1970s but was spared thanks to a successful campaign by what is now known as the D.C. Preservation League. After a bidding process that included ten formal proposals, the GSA awarded a 60-year lease to the Trump Organization in 2013. The lease required Trump to restore the building’s stonework, original wood milling, and paneling to their original 19th century condition.
What is now referred to as the Old Post Office was built before Congress imposed height limitations in the district in 1910 and is the city’s second tallest building. It stands 315 feet (96 meters) high and is exceeded only by the 329-foot-tall (100-meter-tall) Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)