Pelicans owner Gayle Benson buys the Windsor Court hotel, her third downtown deal since July, as the Smoothie King Center lease that runs out in 2029 is still unsigned

Gayle Benson owns the New Orleans Pelicans, the Saints, three Poydras Street office towers and part of the Hyatt Regency next to the Superdome. On Friday, Oct. 30, she added one of the most famous hotels in the city. Benson closed on a majority stake in the Windsor Court, the 42-year-old luxury hotel on the edge of the Central Business District, and said she will spend millions renovating it over the next two summers.

The price was not disclosed. Hospitality industry estimates, based on recent luxury hotel sales, put the Windsor Court’s value between $92 million and $125 million. Dallas-based Crow Holdings, the majority owner since 2009, sold its share. Local developers Darryl and Ryan Berger, whose company led the 2009 purchase with Crow, keep a minority interest and will stay involved in running the hotel. For the first time in its history, the Windsor Court is fully owned in New Orleans.

New Orleans Saints & New Orleans Pelicans owner Gayle Benson buying the iconic downtown hotel @WindsorCourt

story:https://t.co/HUUrkoWriA pic.twitter.com/axqyDBtBZh

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) October 30, 2026

What Benson bought

The Windsor Court opened in 1984, ahead of the World’s Fair, and built its reputation on British-style service, afternoon tea and a guest list that has included President George W. Bush, Paul McCartney and Princess Anne. The Berger and Crow group bought it for $44 million in 2009, then spent $22 million on rooms and the lounge starting in 2011, another $15 million in 2018 and $2 million on the 2,800-square-foot presidential suite in 2023.

If the estimates are right, the hotel is now worth two to three times what that group paid. The work Benson is planning will be done in phases during the slow summer seasons of 2027 and 2028 and is due to be finished by fall 2028. People who know the building say the main needs are behind the scenes, in mechanical systems that have not been updated in years, rather than in the public rooms.

“The Windsor Court is an iconic piece of New Orleans history, and it is a tremendous privilege to help shape its future,” Benson said in announcing the deal. “Much as I do with the Saints and Pelicans, I see myself as a steward of something that means a great deal to this community.” Benson, who worked as an interior designer before marrying the late Tom Benson, said earlier this month that she would keep the hotel’s look: “It’s very European, it’s very homey. You don’t feel like you’re in a cold hotel. I’m going to make it more beautiful.”

The business case is a bet on luxury travel. Downtown New Orleans has about 26,000 hotel rooms, and occupancy averaged a little under 59% in the 12 months through September, still below where it was before the pandemic. Luxury hotels did better, at about 61.5%. The Windsor Court also has new competition from the Four Seasons, which opened in 2021. “We believe that occupancy for the luxury traveler and beyond will grow,” Benson said.

A downtown portfolio that keeps growing

The hotel is Benson’s third big downtown real estate deal since July. That month she bought the Taylor Building, the former Circle Bar and a vacant lot on St. Charles Avenue at Harmony Circle. In September she bought the 36-story BankPlus Tower at 909 Poydras St., adding to 1515 Poydras, Benson Tower and the Benson Annex, which she already owned. She also owns the Mercedes-Benz van center on Poydras and, since 2021, the commercial real estate firm Corporate Realty.

Most of those buildings sit within a few blocks of the Superdome and the Smoothie King Center. For an owner whose teams play in state-owned buildings, owning the offices, hotel rooms and land around them is one way to share in the money that game nights and big events bring downtown.

The Pelicans’ lease clock

The basketball side of Benson’s business has a deadline attached. The Pelicans’ lease at the Smoothie King Center runs out in 2029. The building opened in 1999 at a cost of $112 million, has had only minor upgrades since and, at 17,188 seats, is one of the smaller arenas in the league. A concept plan commissioned by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, which owns the arena, would add 2,155 lower-level seats, new concourses, social spaces and a redesigned campus. Benson and Gov. Jeff Landry presented it to Adam Silver in New York in January. Bringing the All-Star Game back to New Orleans, which hosted it in 2008, 2014 and 2017, was discussed in that meeting.

The new lease was expected to be signed as soon as this fall, with a 10-year term and extension options like the ones in the Saints’ deal. That deal, signed in October 2025, runs through 2035 with four five-year extensions that could take it to 2055. No Pelicans agreement has been announced. The renovation can’t start until there is one, and the money hasn’t been settled either. It is expected to be a public-private split like the $560 million Superdome renovation, where the state paid about 65% and the Saints 35%. To finish by 2029 or 2030, construction would have to start no later than the summer of 2028. That matters because New Orleans is the favorite to host the 2031 Super Bowl, and the NFL wants the area around the Superdome finished by then.

A team that is not for sale

Benson has inherited a franchise that has grown in value, even if its results haven’t. Tom Benson bought the team from the league for $338 million in 2012, and Gayle took control when he died in 2018. One annual valuation ranking published in October put the Pelicans at $4.1 billion, up 15% in a year and 29th in the league, on $348 million in revenue and $87 million in operating income last season. In another set of October valuations, even the cheapest team, Memphis, was put at $4.2 billion. The Pelicans’ gate receipts were about $42 million, with an average ticket of $48, which is why the extra lower-bowl seats and premium spaces in the renovation plan matter.

Every time a franchise sells for a record price, like the $12.5 billion Lakers sale, people ask whether the Pelicans will be next. Benson’s answer has not changed. “The teams are not for sale,” she said in an interview a year ago. “That’s in capital letters.” Her succession plan is that both teams will be sold to the highest bidder after her death, with all of the proceeds going to the community, handled by a group of people rather than one.

That makes Benson unusual among NBA owners. She is not building a portfolio to sell, and she keeps buying the buildings around her arena. For now, the Pelicans have won two straight under Jamahl Mosley after an 0-4 start, the hotel has a renovation schedule, and the arena lease that decides how long the team stays in its current building is still waiting to be signed. That lease is the deal that will matter most for the team, and nothing has been announced on it this fall.