Donald Trump has big dreams for the recently acquired Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
"It's a magnificent building," he told News4 in an interview, "and I've done magnificent buildings before. I think this has the chance to be one of the great hotels of the world, if not the best."
Plans are to convert the second-largest structure in the District after the Washington Monument into a 250-room luxury hotel.
Trump emerged from a pack of suitors hoping to develop the former Post Office headquarters, which dates back to the late 19th century.
The footprint of the real estate developer and reality TV personality has steadily grown in the DMV area over the past few years. Last April, he bought a troubled Charlottesville vineyard at a foreclosure auction. In 2009, he bought the Lowes Island Golf Club in Sterling, Va., and renamed it Trump National.
Sitting down with News4 recently, he said the golf course and the new hotel will both benefit from some Trump-brand synergy.
"I have a great club right outside of Washington, in Loudoun County," he said. "I have a golf course; it's actually two golf courses. You add that to it, and I think it's really going to give it a big boost."
Trump's real estate group is spending $200 million on renovations for the Old Post Office Building. Construction is expected to run from 2014 to 2016.
When everything's done, the Old Post office will be renamed Trump International Hotel.
Trump said he hopes once construction is complete, his new hotel will rank among the city's top landmarks. "People in Washington will be very very proud," he said. "I think people in the nation will be very very proud."
