It's been nine months since the federal government chose Donald Trump to turn the Old Post Office pavilion into a luxury hotel, and in that time Trump and his development team, headed by his daughter Ivanka, have been working through the myriad details of redeveloping a building on the National Register of Historic Places in downtown Washington.
Among the questions: How will drivers on Pennsylvania Avenue know where to enter the hotel? How will guests walk from the hotel to the parking garage? How much space is needed for sidewalk café seating?
The Old Post Office is one-of-a-kind building and the Trumps have been through half a dozen meetings with officials from the many agencies governing the building, including the General Services Administration, the District government, the National Parks Service, the Commission on Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission.
At the latest meeting, held Tuesday at GSA’s regional headquarters, Ivanka Trump and her team, including architects from Beyer Blinder Belle and WDG, unveiled their most detailed vision for the property to date, including the location of restaurants, parking, luxury suites and a new mezzanine level in the building’s main core.
Not all of the proposals are likely to be approved due to concerns about how they would affect the historic structure, but they offer a sense of where the project is headed.
The GSA and the Trumps are working towards signing a lease agreement for the property later this winter. Construction on the hotel could begin in 2014 and the new Trump hotel could open in 2016.
Follow Jonathan O’Connell on Twitter: @oconnellpostbiz
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