Federal Government Sells Old Post Office Building In D.C.
The Trump administration has offloaded a prominent Pennsylvania Avenue property that's home to a historic hotel.
BDT & MSD Partners has purchased 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, which houses the Old Post Office building-turned hotel, the General Services Administration announced Wednesday.
The company already owns the long-term lease to the 263-room Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
The GSA did not reveal the price. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said the property sold for $80M, citing people familiar with the matter.
The sale has not yet been recorded in D.C. property records. The GSA’s release said the price was “established via an independent, third-party appraisal firm,” which followed the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.
BDT & MSD confirmed the acquisition to Bisnow but declined to disclose the price or comment further.
The GSA said it has executed covenants to preserve public access to the clock tower and establish “strong protections for the building's architectural heritage.” It also said the artwork on the property, including 48 Shadow Planes by Robert Irwin and the marble statue of Benjamin Franklin, will remain owned by the American people by way of a fine arts covenant.
1100 Pennsylvania is the latest sale in the administration’s effort to reduce the federal government’s real estate holdings and concentrate its resources on “core assets,” the GSA said.
The agency has sold two other prominent pieces of D.C. real estate over the past three months: the Liberty Loan building on the Tidal Basin, which it offloaded last month for $17M, and the nearly 1M SF Regional Office Building at the end of March for $24.3M.
The GSA had been in negotiations to sell 1100 Pennsylvania since at least January. BDT & MSD affiliates, as the tenant, had the right of first offer.
BDT & MSD Partners gained control of the Waldorf Astoria leasehold interest in August 2024, when, acting as the lender, it took it to a foreclosure auction.
The 1890s-era Old Post Office building was converted to a hotel in 2016. It opened as the Trump International Hotel two months before President Donald Trump was elected to office for the first time.
The Trump Organization had signed a 60-year lease agreement with the GSA before selling the building in May 2022 to Miami-based CGI Merchant Group, the owner prior to BDT & MSD. The hotel was then rebranded as a Waldorf Astoria.
