Oct. 07–WASHINGTON — Washington DC is free of skyscrapers, so the one conspicuous point on the city’s skyline is the 96-metre-tall tower of the Old Post Office Pavilion. But behind the imposing facade, it’s a low-rent place of hot-dog stands and T-shirt shops.

New York real estate magnate Donald Trump wants to change this. His aim is to convert the building into a luxury hotel for the high and the mighty in the US capital.

In early August Trump signed a rental agreement initially to run for 60 years. For 200 million dollars, the building is to be completely revamped.

One of the highlights is to be a 1,200-square-metre ballroom, becoming the largest of all among Washington’s other luxury hotels.

The ballroom would be located in an annex of the Old Post Office Pavilion, an area that is currently empty and in dilapidated condition. The annex is a remnant of a botched attempt at renovation of the building back in the 1980s.

During the 18 months of negotiations for his project, Trump repeatedly stressed that he was not just out to make a profit.

“Friends of mine, they spend these ridiculous amounts of money on a painting,” he commented. “I’d rather do jobs like this and do something really that everybody in DC can truly be proud of.”

The belltower, where a favourite lookout platform is located at the top, will continue to be accessible to the public, he says.

The Old Post Office Pavilion was built between 1892 and 1899. It was to have been torn down in 1928, but then came the Great Depression and there was no money to carry the plan out.

Instead, over the years and decades, various US government agencies were housed in it. In 1964, a citizens’ initiative rescued the historic building from new plans to demolish it.

Under Trump’s plans, the hotel would have 270 rooms, high-class restaurants and two opulent suites located in what was originally the office of the US postmaster general.

The regular rooms are, on average, to be more than 55 square metres, while the two suites would each be 280 square metres in size. The lobby is to have a fountain, hand-woven carpets and brass and crystal chandeliers.

At the moment, the annual upkeep of the building costs the taxpayers some 12 million dollars, while only taking in some 5 million dollars in rental revenues, the Washington Post noted.

Despite its charms, all previous efforts to sell or rent the place failed.

Now, city officials and Congress are confident that Trump’s plans will put an end to more than 20 years of failed efforts to revamp the building. The new hotel is to be ready to open by the end of 2015 or early 2015.