Baseball's Rodriguez part of deal to buy Trump's distressed D.C. hotel, report

Former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez is now reportedly a key part in an investment group trying to buy the rights to the hotel in Washington, D.C., owned by former President Trump, a fellow New Yorker for years. 

Rodriguez involvement in the $375 million deal could allow Trump to recoup millions he invested and perhaps emerge with a profit from the Trump International Hotel – just blocks from the White House, according to an Associated Press exclusive.

Published reports last year identified the buyer as Miami-based CGI Merchant Group. But the rights to lease the 263-room property are in fact being purchased by a fund led by CGI that includes Rodriguez as a general partner, two people familiar with the deal told the wire service.

One of the sources identified the fund as the $650 million Hospitality Opportunity Fund that CGI, Rodriguez and New York real estate financier Adi Chugh established to buy hotels that lost value because of the coronavirus shutdowns.

However, the offered price for the Trump hotel is $375 million, more than the $200 million Trump’s company put into renovating the historic, federally-owned Old Post Office building and the $70 million it reportedly lost during Trump's four years in office.

Trump is a New York native and longtime New York Yankees baseball fan.

However, he was not a Rodriguez fan – citing an unspecified "bad experience" with the ball player when he lived in Trump's Park Avenue building. Trump also called Rodriguez a "druggie" in connection with MLB suspending him for the 2014 season for possessing and using performance-enhancing substances and attempting to obstruct the league's investigation, the Associated Press also reports.