the real story on drumpfy's DC hotel (the historic Old Post Office)
(none of his underhanded, lying dealing on acquiring and ruining this historic landmark was discussed after the infomercial and the media angst. forgot to mention these little details)
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Six insiders who were involved in the project, working either for Trump or for the government, discussed the details with BuzzFeed News. They spoke on the condition that they remain unnamed, some for fear of lawsuits, some because they are not allowed to speak publicly.
Trump won the bid largely because of two grand promises, three of the sources said. Trump promised to employ the architect who had, over decades, championed the building’s careful, historic restoration. And he promised the involvement of a multibillion-dollar real estate investment firm with a rock-solid financial reputation. After Trump’s team got the nod from the GSA, however, it reversed itself on both these promises.
It announced that the architect would no longer be involved. And it informed the government that it would no longer be working with the real estate investment firm. To finance the construction, Trump borrowed $170 million from a bank, putting the federal lease on the property up as collateral.
According to a former member of his team, “The Trump people said all the right things” in the early stages. “He never intended to stick with it. He thought, ‘Well, let’s get to the next phase and then we’ll do what we want to do.’” Several sources said the GSA decided to proceed with the deal, despite all the changes, in part because it feared the political fallout.
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https://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/how-donald-trump-won-control-of-a-prized-dc-landmark?utm_term=.tko8B6Zny6#.pkXgyoKvno
Here's Why Donald Trump's New DC Hotel May Be a Financial Flop
His controversial campaign isn't the only problem.
On Monday, Donald Trump's newest hotel, located in the iconic Old Post Office Pavilion a few blocks from the White House, will open for business. But there already are signs that the $200 million project could face trouble achieving financial success—and that Trump family claims about the project were not accurate. In 2011, when Trump submitted the winning bid to lease and renovate the historic building, which is owned by the federal government, at least one rival bidder expressed surprise regarding the terms of Trump's offer. Trump proposed a lavish rehab estimated to cost at least $60 million more than other bidders. He also offered the government generous financial terms, under which the Trump Organization would pay annual rent of $3 million, plus a cut of any profits. In a protest filed with the General Services Administration, the government agency overseeing the project, lawyers for a competing development team noted that in order to make the hotel financially viable, Trump would have to charge some of the highest room rates in the city.
"A properly conducted price reasonableness analysis would have resulted in the conclusion that the minimum base lease proposed by Trump would require Trump to obtain hotel room revenues which are simply not obtainable in this location based on the concepts for the redevelopment," the lawyers asserted. After the project was awarded to Trump, a Washington Post columnist calculated that Trump's new hotel might have to charge average rates of as much as $750 per night. At the time, Ivanka Trump responded angrily that "his numbers are pure speculation and, simply put, wrong."
Yet it was Ivanka who was wrong. On weeknights this fall, the hotel's least expensive rooms will go for between $735 and $995 a night. On many days, the hotel is as expensive or more so than the Four Seasons. (Ivanka Trump had said that Trump Organization originally aimed to have lower rates than this high-end hotel.) And it's not at all clear whether Trump's hotel can command such steep rates in a market already crowded with luxury hotels—especially because Trump's hotel will lack some of the amenities initially promised.
Trump had said his DC hotel would feature two high-end restaurants. He had originally signed up two celebrity chefs, José Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian, to open highly anticipated restaurants in the hotel. Then Trump launched his presidential bid by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, and both restaurateurs backed out. Trump is now suing each of them. The ongoing litigation has generated heaps of bad press for Trump. The lawsuits, coupled with Trump's controversial statements on the campaign trail, have also made the project toxic to other well-known chefs who have apparently steered clear of the project.
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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/donald-trumps-old-post-office-hotel-financial-flop
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