President Donald Trump’s coronavirus blunder caused the economy to collapse and his own finances are suffering because the Trump Organization cannot unload the lease to his Washington DC hotel.
The economic calamity as a result of Trump’s poor response to the pandemic did significant damage to the real estate industry.
Back in October, the Trump Organization began trying to dump the lease to the Old Post Office building in Washington DC, which is where Trump’s newest hotel is located — and where he violates the Emoluments Clause every chance he gets.
But now that the pandemic has shut everything down and has thrown the economy into disarray, Trump’s attempt to sell the lease to someone else is on hold.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
According to the Washington Post:
Trump’s firm, which he still owns, has had to press pause on the proposed sale of its D.C. hotel lease due to the market’s collapse as potential buyers wait for banks and investors to return normal operations.
The company’s sales representative, Jeffrey Davis of JLL, confirmed to The Washington Post that the proposed sale of Trump’s lease to the federally owned Old Post Office Pavilion has been set aside as the industry recovers.”
In fact, Trump may have to wait a long time before he can get rid of the lease.
JLL, the firm that represents Trump’s company, projects a commercial real estate slowdown that lasts at least through the first half of 2020. Other experts say that it could last much longer, further sidelining top dollar sales like the Trump hotel lease.
‘The comeback period for major purchases is going to extend well beyond this six-month period that we’re talking about,’ said Spencer Levy, CBRE senior economic adviser, to NAIOP, a trade group for developers. ‘It might be a year before you get back to normal patterns.'”
And because he has to continue paying annual rent as long as he holds the lease, it’s going to cost him a lot of money, especially since hotels, bars, and restaurants are shut down and won’t be generating a whole lot, if any, profit until the pandemic subsides.
Trump is also in the role of tenant at the D.C. hotel, which is in a federally owned building managed by the General Services Administration. His company pays the government a base of $3 million in annual rent plus a share of any profits above a certain threshold (an amount the government has not disclosed).
According to the lease, his company is subject to interest payments, additional fees and ultimately termination if it stops making lease payments.
Basically, another Trump property could end up going under. And Trump has no one to blame but himself.
Featured image via screenshot
Like what you see here? Join the discussion on Facebook over at Americans For Sanity!
