The Drifter Hotel, the Tulane Avenue hotel known for its hipster pool culture, has been sold to a group of investors with big expansion plans in New Orleans.
The Drifter’s new owners include Mayank Dwivedi, an Indian-born New York-based banker; Irwin Simon, CEO of Tilray Brands, the first publicly traded cannabis company; Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney whose clients have included former President Bill Clinton and R&B star Chris Brown; and local real estate agent Elizabeth Novit.
The Drifter has been owned for the past seven years by developer Zach Kupperman and his partners, who bought the 1956 motel at a time when Tulane Avenue was just beginning to transform from a strip known for its seedy reputation into something more upscale.
The transformation, which Kupperman undertook with partners Alex Ramirez and Jeffrey and Jayson Seidman, included bunk beds in some rooms, indoor and outdoor bars, a giant disco ball and wall art with references to the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragán.
Architectural Digest magazine included The Drifter in its 2019 list of “chicest motels,” noting the lobby’s “resort-like atmosphere,” “simple rooms” with Oaxacan tilework and Frette linens, and the property’s “old-fashioned” motel sign at the front of Tulane Avenue.
The outdoor pool is on several lists of the city’s most beautiful public facilities and is the training ground for the New Orleans water ballet troupe Aqua Mob.
A view of the lobby of the Drifter Hotel. The 20-room boutique hotel opened in 2017 in a renovated 1950s motel building on Tulane Avenue. (Courtesy of the Drifter Hotel)
“We had a good run and a great offer,” Kupperman said. The sale price was not disclosed by either the buyer or the seller. The property and business are valued at about $800,000 by the Orleans Parish Assessor.
Novit said the buying group plans not only to modernize the 20-room Drifter but also to buy other hotel properties in New Orleans, with the goal of owning a total of 100 rooms in the city over the next year.
“The idea is to take properties like this and transform them into a four-star guest experience,” she said.
The Drifter has a loyal clientele, centered around the pool and cocktail bar, which is only open to guests 21 and older. Novit said they wanted to find a way to retain that clientele while expanding the dining options and making the hotel more attractive to a wider audience, including families.
Terri Dreyer of NANO is the architect who will help redesign the Drifter, Novit said.
What the restaurant operation will look like and who will run it has not yet been decided. The national boutique hotel brand that will be attached to the hotel will also be announced at a later date, Novit said.
Hotel companies
Mayank has invested separately in two other hotel projects with Simon and Geragos. With Simon, they purchased the Maidstone Hotel in East Hampton, New York. With Geragos, he invested in the Capri Hotel in Southampton, New York, which sold last summer for $29 million.
Novit said the purchase of the Drifter is also a bet on the continued revitalization of Tulane Avenue. She noted that the neighboring Iris Hotel also has a steady base of pool-goers after its renovation, while the Feil Organization is on track to open a Trader Joe’s next to the Veterans Administration hospital grounds.
