Retired baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez, the recipient of barbs from Donald Trump when he played for the Yankees, is reportedly now part of the investment group trying to buy rights to Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel.
The news came from The Associated Press, which cited knowledgeable sources.
CGI Merchant Group of Miami is leading a fund that includes Rodriguez as a general partner to buy rights to lease the Trump International Hotel, two AP sources said. The offer price is $375 million, and the deal could close in weeks.
One of the sources said the fund is the $650 million Hospitality Opportunity Fund that CGI, Rodriguez and New York real estate investor Adi Chugh formed in late 2020 to buy hotels that dropped in value thanks pandemic-caused shutdowns. The idea is to recast the hotels as “socially conscious” and “eco-friendly.”
The deal might allow Trump to turn a profit on his hotel, The AP said. His company invested more than $200 million switching the federal-government-owned Old Post Office building to a luxury hotel. The company agreed to a lease with the General Services Administration in 2012. The hotel lost $70 million during Trump’s four-year term as president, a congressional oversight committee said.
Real estate experts told the AP that $260 million is a more realistic price for the hotel than $375 million. The lower price would amount to $1 million per room. Experts said it’s tough to determine a fair value for the hotel, partly because it’s a lease that would change hands rather than the hotel itself. In addition, once Trump’s name is removed from the hotel, more people might feel comfortable staying there, the AP reports.
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