Yahoo Finance Mystics, Wizards, Capitals stakeholder Sheila Johnson reportedly bidding on Trump hotel
Sheila Johnson, the president and managing partner of the Washington Mystics, is one of the bidders attempting to get the lease to President Donald Trump’s hotel in downtown Washington, per the Washington Post.
The Trump organization, led by sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, announced in October they would sell the lease to Trump International Hotel and set a Jan. 23 deadline for initial bids. They have been criticized for violating ethics laws by profiting from the hotel, which they’ve operated since 2016. Foreign governments have leased rooms at the place.
Johnson, who owns stakes in the Washington Capitals and Wizards, owns luxury resorts and hotels in Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and Jamaica under Salamander Hospitality, LLC. She acknowledged to the Post she was interested in the project, but declined comment. Two other known bidders for the project told the Post they had withdrawn.
Johnson, 71, is a vice chairman and partner with Monumental Sports and is the only African American woman to be a principal stakeholder in three professional sports teams. She co-founded BET with her then-husband and has an estimated net worth around $820 million, per Forbes’ 2019 list, making her one of the nation’s wealthiest black women.
The 263-room hotel could sell for between $300 million and $350 million, experts said via the Post. The Trumps reportedly hope to get more than $500 million out of it. The building is government property and is leased to the organization for up to 100 years, per the Wall Street Journal.
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