The signs on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. ― once described because the “crown jewel” of Donald Trump’s real estate empire ― got here down Wednesday night just hours after latest owners took control over the property.
CGI Merchant Group, an investment firm that features former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez and former boxing champ Floyd Mayweather, struck a deal last yr to purchase the hotel for $375 million.
The deal closed Wednesday ― and the signs got here down shortly afterward:
The property lost $70 million in the course of the Trump presidency, however the Washington Post said the sale will yield about $100 million in profit for the previous president.
The brand new hotel will likely be run by Hilton as a Waldorf Astoria property that is anticipated to reopen by summer, CGI Merchant Group said in a news release.
While the constructing itself is owned by the federal government, Trump won a lease on the property in 2012, then opened it as a hotel in 2016. After he won the presidency, it became a spot for those hoping to be seen and curry favor.
It’s also been the goal of ethics allegations, as lobbyists and foreign interests spent big bucks on the hotel, earning Trump and his family hundreds of thousands.
But when Trump left town, business dried up.
“Those people not have any reason to fulfill and take a look at to seek out out what’s happening on the scene since the man is gone,” Kevin Chaffee, senior editor of Washington Life, told The Guardian last yr. “So it have to be like a ghost town.”
Trump’s critics on social media wished the signs a not-so-fond farewell:
The Trump Hotel in DC is not any more. Good riddance to a sinkhole of corruption.
— Residents for Ethics (@CREWcrew) May 12, 2022
I ponder if the sale price for Trump Hotel DC included the Jumbo Prawns sitting within the restaurant freezer. (He all the time needed to have larger shrimp in his shrimp cocktail than his guests, true story from annals of the world’s most fragile ego.) @GOP
— NoelCaslerComedy (@caslernoel) May 11, 2022
The Trump Hotel in Washington DC is not any longer.
There ought to be a historical marker placed nearby as to all of the crimes that were committed inside. https://t.co/jltRNzqC7f
— Linda Wasson, B.S., M.F.A.🌻🇺🇦🌻 (@backroads_linda) May 12, 2022
Anyone need to suggest which political ghosts will linger within the soon-to-be-former Trump International Hotel DC?
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) May 11, 2022
AMEN! Buh-Bye to the #TrumpHotel in #DC! Its signs are taken down! I’ll now happily walk inside! I’ve loved the Old Post Office Pavilion since I used to be a child, but would not step foot inside once Trump got his hands on it, as I wasn’t about to provide him a dime of my $$. https://t.co/vCEMhAaIYh
— Lisa Amore (@lamore) May 12, 2022
