Jay-Z's dwindling record sales and unsure future at Def Jam might be getting the already business-minded rapper/exec into an even more entrepreneurial state of mind. Rumor has it Jay has plans to open a chain of luxury hotels called J-Hotels.
The Def Jam president has secured a development site in Chelsea to build the 150,000 square-foot luxury hotel that will serve as the flagship for a planned expansion into other cities.
According to GlobeSt.com, the site was purchased by Jay-Z partners Charles Blaichman of CB Developers and Abram Shnay, along with son Scott Shnay, of SK Development Group in two separate transactions – the acquisition of the base site for $51 million, followed by the acquisition of the air rights for $15.4 million, totaling $66.4 million.
The J-Hotel will be located in the gallery district between 10th and 11th avenues at 510 W. 22nd St., also known as 511 W. 21st St.
I hope he knows in advance that it will probably hurt business if Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel are loitering in the lobby.
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about a month or so ago, he mentioned during a radio interview that the hotel biz would be his next big venture.
How much money did he put in? This dude is a brand. I mean, didn't it come out that he only own like 5% (or some other small-ish amount) of the Nets? How much of this hotel chain is he really gonna own when it's all said and done? I think homie is just really good at marketing and making people think he's running shit when all he really does is put his name on stuff ie being a music biz "executive" and we all see how poorly that's gone.
@ Black Mistress Diva
There may be some truth to your statement. Jay-Z is reported to have a 2% share of the Nets. Bruce Ratner is THE man with the money. He paid $300M for the Nets in 2004. Jay-Z was brought on to assist in moving the team to Brooklyn. If Mr. Ratner woke up with Jay-Z's net worth he'd probably jump off of a building and slit is throat on the way down. He has the money but needed a native son to help move the team - that does not seem to be going very well.
The same with the guys mentioned in the article above. They are definitely the money men and Jay-Z's name helps with the branding. It will be interesting to see who the J Hotels are marketed to. I'm not so sure that the people who are so in to Jay-Z that they would patronize any venture he is part of will be able to afford the room rates they are likely to charge.
Donald Trump does the same thing. He slaps his name on so many buildings/projects here in New York, that it's hard to tell just what he actually owns.