Chapter 824: 282, 130 million US Dollar investment_2

Donnie offered his suggestion.

“I am currently collaborating with Morgan to acquire the Vanderbilt Family’s assets. The Astor Family is definitely not suitable to enter the railway sector, but don’t forget, besides railways, the Vanderbilt Family’s assets also include hotels. The Vanderbilt Hotel in New York is their family’s iconic property.

The attributes of the hotel industry match very well with your family’s business assets. If you can enter the hotel industry, I believe the resistance you encounter within your family will be much lesser, and it can also help generate a great deal of cash!”

This suggestion had been considered by Donnie for a long time, and the Astor Family themselves also own hotel businesses, with the Ritz Hotel in New York, which is on par with the Vanderbilt Hotel, being one of their properties!

“You’re actually strategizing with Morgan to acquire the Vanderbilt Family’s assets?” Walker looked at Donnie somewhat surprised; there hadn’t been any whispers of this at all!

“It’s already started!” Donnie casually responded: “What do you think of this idea?”

Walker thought for a moment, and said: “It’s indeed a very good direction, but just one Vanderbilt Hotel is hardly enough to leverage the entire Astor Family’s assets!”

Donnie smiled and said: “Of course, it’s not just about one Vanderbilt Hotel. Currently, the nationwide development is doing very well, I think you can shift some of your family’s business into the hotel sector appropriately, eventually establishing a luxury hotel brand, while also diverting your family’s land acquisition from Manhattan towards other cities in the United States, which could be seen as diversifying investments!”

Walker stood up, starting to seriously contemplate Donnie’s idea, initially feeling very tempted by Donnie’s advice.

But there was also an important issue involved here.

The Astor Family’s assets, while plentiful, consisted mainly of land, and although they had a significant amount of cash, it would be difficult to support such an immense development plan.

A few cities might be manageable, but when it involves multiple cities, that becomes problematic!

“The two of us cooperating?” Walker looked at Donnie with some expectations. If Donnie was involved in this affair, he would feel much more reassured!

Donnie, without much hesitation, agreed to Walker’s suggestion, but still had his own thoughts: “Even with cooperation, I won’t invest too much capital in this matter. Combining our finances, initially, we can only target two to three cities as pilot sites, you have no objections to this, right?”

Walker nodded: “That’s naturally fine, this kind of business isn’t suitable to be expanded too ambitiously at once, but have you decided on those cities yet?”

Donnie said: “Let’s skip New York, it has Ritz Hotel, and also, if the Astor Family succeeds in acquiring the Vanderbilt Hotel, having these two top luxury hotels in New York is already enough. As for other cities, I think Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle are good choices!”

“What about Miami? That place is currently the gold tourism city of the United States!”

If you ask which city’s tourism is currently the most eye-catching in the United States besides Donnie’s own Atlantic City, it would be Los Angeles and Miami!

In 1920, Florida’s statistics showed Miami’s population was only 45,000, but now that number has skyrocketed to 100,000!

The warm and pleasant climate, rich and abundant natural resources, are reasons why Miami attracts tourists, and it has even become the first choice city for many family vacations now!

During the peak tourist season, Miami’s beautiful palm beaches are filled with vacationers.

Nevertheless, Donnie still did not choose Miami, and the fundamental reason is that in three years, Miami will face one of the most famous hurricanes in American history, the Great Miami Hurricane!

At that time, Miami, just starting to develop, would become a ruin.

According to information from future internet sources, it would be akin to returning back to the old days!

Statistics show that just around Lake Okeechobee, Deerfield Townships were almost flattened, directly causing over 400 deaths, injuring over 6300 people, and leaving more than 50,000 homeless!

This hurricane nearly destroyed Florida’s economy. By 1928, 31 banks in the state had collapsed, and by 1929, the number of failed banks in the state had risen to 57.

Therefore, Donnie did not choose Miami at this time, because if everything happened as per historical events, by the time their hotel in Miami was constructed, it would probably be destroyed by the hurricane!

Thinking of this, Donnie’s mind once again started concocting a grand plan!

“Miami, after all, is just a newly developed tourism city, it can’t yet compare to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. I still think we should first establish hotels in these three cities, and later consider the situation in Miami!”

Walker thought about it and felt that what Donnie said made sense, so he agreed to Donnie’s suggestion!

However, Donnie then said to Walker: “Although we currently don’t need to build a hotel in Miami, the characteristics of Miami as a tourist city have already emerged, and according to my people’s investigation, the real estate prices there have started to rise. If you are interested, the two of us can collaborate at this time to jointly acquire some lands in Miami!”