Published 11:22 IST, October 26th 2019
Donald Trump's organisation looking to sell rights of Washington hotel
Trump’s Organisation is considering to sell the rights of its Washington DC hotel. The property is surrounded by several criticisms, litigations,and allegations
Trump’s organisation, which is devoted to the real estate business, is considering to sell the rights of its Washington DC hotel. The property is surrounded by several criticisms and currently facing litigations and allegations of corruption. The move by the Trump group comes amid accusations that President Trump violated anti-corruption provisions and government ethic laws as mentioned by the US constitution, thereby seeking profit from the property.
Real estate firm hired to ‘explore’ and sell rights
Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump and the Executive Vice President of the organisation told international media that the Trump group has hired JLL, which is a real estate firm to ‘explore’ and sell rights of the Trump International Hotel. It is a historic building located on Pennsylvania Avenue. The land is on lease from the federal government and the Trumps are not the actual owners. Once a new owner is allotted the lease can be extended close to 100 years.
Looking for over $500 million investment
The Trump Group is open to exploring its options. Eric Trump in a statement revealed that several real estate groups have displayed their interest in the property, however, the group is considering to give rights for more than $500 million investment. One of the main reasons for selling the property rights is the accusations surrounding the property, people object that the Trump family is making huge sums of money from the hotel and therefore now they are willing to sell it off.
The criticism surrounding the hotel property
The criticism comes from the Democrats, the watchdog community who assert that President Donald Trump violated the anti-corruption provisions stated by the US constitution by not selling his family business and rather fetching profit by handing it over to his sons. According to the constitution of the United States, the President is banned from receiving any ‘emoluments’, which are the things of value, beyond his salary. According to the data tracker STR Inc., the kind of sale the Trump Organisation is trying to fetch will make the sale one of the highest-priced hotel deals in the real estate industry as per the industry metric valuation.
Updated 12:07 IST, October 26th 2019