(LOS ANGELES) Trump Organization, headed by Donald Trump, the developer and reality-television star, plans to spend almost US$200 million on its first hotel in Washington.
Ms Trump: Says the Trump Organization is seeking to profit from demand from government, business, and leisure travellers to the city |
The US General Services Administration selected the New York-based company to redevelop the historic Old Post Office building, located at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, into a 250-room luxury hotel with a restaurant, spa, and conference facilities, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Trump Organization is seeking to profit from demand from government, business, and leisure travellers to the city, said Ivanka Trump, the company’s executive vice-president of development and acquisitions.
Hotel occupancy in the capital was 69 per cent last year through November, higher than the 61 per cent rate for the entire US, according to Smith Travel Research Inc of Hendersonville, Tennessee.
‘A new luxury hotel hasn’t been introduced to DC in years and there is no current pipeline of luxury hotel product given the lack of great available locations and the high cost of land and development,’ Ms Trump said in an interview on Tuesday.
Trump Organization will spend almost US$200 million on the project, the General Services Administration said.
The agency and Trump Organization will devote a year to negotiating the agreement for the building’s redevelopment.
Construction is expected to start in 2014 and be completed within two years after that, Ms Trump said. — Bloomberg
Source: Business Times 9 Feb 2012