The Trump organization has reached a deal to sell the lease on its Washington, DC hotel, with new owners renaming it Waldorf Astoria, sources tell Bloomberg News.

Donald Trump’s family business has reached a deal to sell the rights to its Washington, DC hotel for $ 375 million, after which the property will be named the Waldorf Astoria, according to people familiar with the matter.

Miami-based investment firm CGI Merchant Group is in the process of acquiring the lease for the Trump International Hotel, located less than a mile from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, said the people, who refused to be identified because the case is private. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, they said.

The buyer is considering removing the Trump name and has entered into an agreement with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to convert the property into a Waldorf Astoria managed by Hilton. The Wall Street Journal reported the deal earlier on Sunday.

Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC on Friday, September 17, 2021 [Bloomberg]

Trump secured the rights to develop the hotel, located in Washington’s Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, in 2012, by leasing the building to the federal government. The hotel has been a valuable asset to the Trump Organization, and Trump rejected calls to sell the hotel when he was elected president.

Trump’s company has been engaged in intermittent efforts to sell the hotel since 2019, when it launched an asking price of over $ 500 million, Bloomberg News previously reported.

The hotel had been a source of constant controversy, with critics claiming that foreign governments and other interest groups could gain favor by reserving rooms at a property owned by the former president’s company.

According to documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the hotel received around $ 3.75 million in payments from foreign governments, but still lost over $ 70 million during Trump’s stay at the White House. The Trump Organization disputed the report.