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By Che Odom

Nov. 15 — President-elect Donald Trump refiled his lawsuit seeking a refund of taxes paid for his new luxury hotel project in Washington, D.C. ( Trump Old Post Office LLC v. District of Columbia , D.C. Super. Ct., No. 2016-CVT-000010, second amended petition filed 11/14/16 ).

Trump, through a company he owns called Trump Old Post Office LLC, first filed suit against the city in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in June, contesting the assessment against several downtown lots along Pennsylvania Avenue. That lawsuit was dismissed Oct. 27, but the court allowed Trump to refile separate petitions for each of the lots involved in the Trump International Hotel.

The first of those petitions was filed Nov. 14. More petitions will be filed, according to court papers.

Trump’s 263-room hotel is housed in the castle-like Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Ave., completed in 1899, five blocks from the White House. Its official grand opening was Oct. 26.

Trump claims in his lawsuit that the District of Columbia incorrectly assessed the Old Post Office property as a “fully functional and rent-producing commercial office building” before the two-year, $200 million project was complete. The valuation the city placed “on the shell of a non-operational building undergoing a massive conversion to a hotel” resulted in “an assessment of possessory interest taxes that is neither equitable nor reasonable,” the court filings said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Che Odom at COdom@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ryan C. Tuck at rtuck@bna.com

For More Information The second amended complaint is at http://src.bna.com/j6M.

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