The Trump Organization is selling the rights to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Eric Trump said Friday, in part because of attacks that President Donald Trump's family is profiting from the property in violation of federal ethics laws.
Eric Trump, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, told The Wall Street Journal that the company has hired JLL, the Chicago-based real-estate firm, to market the hotel.
"Since we opened our doors," Trump said in a statement, "we have received tremendous interest in this hotel — and as real-estate developers, we are always willing to explore our options."
Trump continued: "People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and therefore we may be willing to sell."
The hotel, built 121 years ago, is the former Old Post Office near the National Mall. The federal government owns the property and leases it to the Trump Organization through the General Services Administration.
The agency selected the Trump Organization in February 2012 to redevelop the property into a 261-room hotel. After much wrangling and many protests from community groups and preservationists, Congress approved the arrangement in August 2013.
The hotel opened in September 2016.
The Trump Organization hopes to receive more than $500 million for the leasing rights, or about $2 million per room key, the Journal reports.
That would put the sale among the highest-priced deals for a hotel by this popular industry valuation metric.
With extensions, the lease lasts nearly 100 years, with a new owner controlling the property into the next century, the Journal reports.
President Trump did not sell his businesses after the 2016 election, instead placing them into a trust managed by his sons.
Democrats and watchdog groups have long attacked the move as running afoul of the Constitution's emoluments clause.
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