May 13, 2024 Emily Wishingrad, Washington, D.C.

One of D.C.’s most iconic buildings, just blocks from the White House, could be sold at a foreclosure auction next month.

The owner of the Waldorf Astoria, the hotel at the Old Post Office, has defaulted on the mortgage tied to the leasehold at the building and is facing foreclosure, according to an affidavit filed with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds on Monday.

Miami-based CGI Merchant Group acquired the lease to the property at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW from The Trump Organization, which converted the historic building to a Trump International Hotel that opened months before Donald Trump took up residence up the road.

The federal government owns the real estate and leased it in 2012 to Trump, who spent $200M turning the former post office into a luxury hotel.

CGI Merchant Group paid $375M in 2022, tens of millions of dollars more than the next highest bid, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year. CGI took on a $285M loan from Michael Dell’s MSD Partners to fund the acquisition but defaulted on that loan in February.

MSD, which merged with another company last year to form BDT & MSD Partners, is now moving to foreclose on that loan, which has $252.7M outstanding, according to deeds records. The filing says an auction is scheduled for June 20 at Alex Cooper Auctioneers. The Washington Business Journal first reported the foreclosure filing.

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