Scaramucci's New Orleans Opportunity Zone Hotel A Total Loss To Investors

Investors in Anthony Scaramucci’s Virgin Hotel in New Orleans are expecting a total loss after an appraisal halved the property’s value.

The hotel is being listed for sale by Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital, as it wasn’t able to secure a new lender to refinance after JLL valued it at roughly $43M in September, a deep cut from $94M that a consultant valued it at in December, Bloomberg reports. 

SkyBridge Capital said in a letter to its clients that if the property sells for $43M, they “will likely suffer a complete loss of invested capital.”

The property is owned by SkyBridge Opportunity Zone Real Estate Investment Trust, which Scaramucci launched in 2018 to invest in opportunity zones around the U.S. The REIT attracted funding with Scaramucci’s promise to raise $3B to invest in OZs across the U.S. Bloomberg reports that he was expecting 8% to 10% returns before tax benefits.

However, Scaramucci raised less than $50M and plunged that money into the New Orleans venture. 

Opportunity zones provide tax breaks to investors for developing in distressed areas. But the property is in New Orleans’ Warehouse District, which was already a trendy neighborhood, and critics of its designation as an OZ say it didn’t require the assistance of a luxury hotel property to attract economic development.

The hotel was also already underway before OZs were written into law, but it nonetheless received the tax benefits that come with that type of development, according to the Boston Review. 

SkyBridge said it hopes the property’s sale will occur sometime in the first quarter.

The firm manages $2.6B in assets, a decline from a peak of $9B a decade ago.