A fine for 'illegal street furniture' outside Trump Tower might be the least of Donald Trump's current legal concerns, but it's one more headache to add to the growing list faced by the former president, as he comes to term with four indictments and potentially years in prison. The 45th president has found himself in hot water with the City of New York's Department of Transportation (DOT) after they spotted that the iconic 16-foot clocktower was installed without a permit... more than 12 years ago. Click or scroll on to find out more.
Furniture installed on New York pavements, such as signs, benches, planters and – unfortunately for Trump – ornamental clocks, must be permitted by the city, which requires payment of a fee of around $300 (£238) a year for a ten-year license. In 2015, The New York Times enquired about the iconic timepiece standing outside 725 Fifth Avenue for an article. The clock, which is made of aluminium and gold, had fallen through the cracks at the DOT. "Let them prove we owe anything," Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-lawyer said at the time. In May 2015, Trump was ordered to remove the clock and it wasn't until the following October that his company finally applied for a permit, which then appears to have been overtaken by other concerns once Trump became the Republican presidential nominee in 2016.
In July this year, the department finally sent the Trump Organization a reminder notice. "Although your company contacted DOT to begin the revocable consent process at that time, you never completed it," the letter stated. "As such, these structures continue to be encroachments on the public right of way and are subject to enforcement." Trump must now remove the clock and some planters outside the building or reapply for the permit, or face a lien on the property. The overdue estimate is thought to be around $3,600 (£2.8k), but – in much-needed good legal news for Trump – the city can't demand retrospective payment for a permit that was never applied for. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization has confirmed they will work with the city to resolve the issue of missing paperwork. But the clock debacle is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the controversies of Trump Tower...
Read on to discover more shocking revelations about Trump's iconic skyscraper...
The ultimate symbol of eighties excess, Trump Tower is heavy on glitz and glamour, but beyond the gleaming façade lies a multitude of sometimes sordid secrets that read stranger than fiction. Join us as we reveal the shocking stories, past and present, behind former president Donald Trump's signature skyscraper, from the staggering new exposé alleging historic fraud at the tower, to the 'confidential' file on display in the building's bar, and the shady business school once fronted by Kris Jenner that's being sued by Trump for unpaid rent. Click or scroll on to get the full story...
In February, a damning exposé by Forbes brought to light new allegations of fraud at Trump Tower. The building is already implicated in a $250 million (£197m) civil fraud lawsuit that was brought by New York District Attorney Letitia James in 2022, for which Trump is due to stand trial on 2 October 2023. Forbes says that they have uncovered evidence of historic fraudulent activity at Donald Trump’s New York City trophy building. Around the time the tower opened to the public in 1983, Trump told Forbes that 85% of the tower’s residential units had sold before its grand opening for between $500,000 (£395k) and $12 million (£9.5m). He also claimed: “The apartments will bring in $268 million, all profit.”
Yet, according to official property deeds, this was seemingly untrue. Forbes reports that around 60% of the units – one pictured here – sold in the year the tower opened. The most expensive apartment in the building sold for $2 million (£1.6m), much less than the $12 million (£9.5m) Trump claimed, and the cheapest for just $130,000 (£103k). By the end of the building’s first year in business, it reportedly had a turnover of some $45 million (£35.6m). It was certainly not enough to pay back the $130 million (£103m) loan on the building and was a far cry from the nine-figure profit Trump had touted. But the building still went on to turn over a healthy sum, in large part due to its retail and office spaces.
Allegations that Trump exaggerated the size of his penthouse in the tower are key to Letitia James’ fraud lawsuit, and now Forbes claims that the size of the tower’s commercial space is up for question too. In one instance, a statement from the Trump Organization says that the retail space measures 114,000 square feet, while another document lists the square footage as 46,000. Filed in 1983, the condo declaration for Trump Tower indicates that the total rentable commercial square footage of the building is 182,000. Yet the exposé says that an official filing describes the rentable space as 257,000 square feet, and records connected to a loan put it at 215,000. Vacancy rates also appear erratic – around 11% to 22% of the building was listed in official documents as empty in the years between 2011 and 2017. However, a Trump Organization investment prospectus claimed that occupancy was 99% in 2012.
Trump Tower’s erratic valuations were examined in the exposé too. Back in 1997, a Forbes reporter discussed the tower’s worth with Trump, noting: “Trump says $275 million”. An appraisal from the same time period put the tower’s value at a much lower $65 million (£50.5m). Fast-forward to a 2015 interview with Forbes and Trump asserted: “If I wanted to sell Trump Tower today, I’d get $2.5 billion.” He went on to suggest his profits for the year would be as much as $90 million (£71m), yet tax and lending records show that the net operating profit was more like $15 million (£11.8m). While their reply to Forbes’ claims focused on Letitia James’ fraud lawsuit, the Trump Organization denies any wrongdoing: “The attorney general’s attempt to interfere with private loan transactions between sophisticated business parties is utterly baseless and a complete overreach,” they said in reply to the allegations.
The Forbes exposé came during the bombshell civil case that sent shockwaves through Trump Tower and the wider Trump real estate empire. On 21 September 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit against the former president, along with members of his family and executives of the Trump Organization, alleging that he "falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars" in order to secure more favourable bank loans and gain tax benefits. 20 properties are implicated in the suit, including Trump Tower and Donald's private triplex apartment in the building. Under the proposed penalties, Trump could be permanently banned from running businesses in New York.
In the civil complaint, Trump is accused of exaggerating the size of his lavish three-storey penthouse in order to increase its supposed worth. James' lawsuit reveals: "Mr Trump’s own triplex apartment in Trump Tower was valued as being 30,000 square feet when it was 10,996 square feet." With the property's size inflated almost three-fold, its value was put at a staggering $327 million (£258m) in 2015. The New York Attorney General's office deemed the figure "absurd", given that the record residential sale in Trump Tower was just $16.5 million (£13m). This picture taken in 2018 with the late former Japanese PM Abe Shinzo gives a rare glimpse at the gilded interior.
As well as the former president's triplex, Trump Tower itself is implicated in some of the lawsuit's biggest claims. James says that its worth was based on "cherry-picked" dated and exaggerated figures. Different valuation methods were reportedly used to assess the worth of the building over the years, resulting in staggering hikes in its value. A shake-up in the calculation formula in 2015 saw Trump Tower valued at $170 million (£134m) more than the year prior, and almost $250 million (£198m) more than the value stated the following year. Watch this space for more bombshell revelations when the trial gets underway later this year...
As if a shocking fraud case weren't enough, Trump Tower has hit the headlines for a multitude of reasons. On 17 October 2022, an investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform was publicly released, detailing how much Donald Trump charged security agents to stay in his hotels while they protected him during his time as president. During Trump’s presidency, Trump Hotels charged the Secret Service as much as $1,185 (£935) per night, more than five times the recommended government rate, at least 40 times between January 2017 and September 2021, and have continued to do so even after Trump left office.
It is standard practice for the government to foot the bill for Secret Service agents’ hotel accommodations while they are stationed to protect the president and their family members. However, the report reveals that during the course of Trump’s time in office, the Secret Service signed at least 40 waivers to spend more than the recommended per diem rates of $201 (£159) per night to stay at Trump properties, Trump Tower in particular.
The report also reveals that agents were charged while protecting Donald Trump's sons. When Eric Trump came to visit his father, he opted to stay away from the White House in a DC Trump hotel, along with his security detail. But Eric Trump said that accommodation for the Secret Service at Trump-owned ventures was always "provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free". He went on: "The company would have been substantially better off if hospitality services were sold to full-paying guests, however, the company did whatever it took to accommodate the agencies to ensure they were able to do their jobs at the highest levels – they are amazing men and women.”
On a visit to Dublin, Vice President Mike Pence was also given accommodation in a Trump hotel far away from the capital city where he had business, NBC News reports. If true, these and other room charges could prove to be in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which strictly prohibits presidents from receiving compensation in excess of the salary and pension set by Congress. In light of the release of the report, the Secret Service said it would respond to the findings of the investigation in communications directly with the committee.
Given the 2022 FBI raids over Trump's mishandling of sensitive information, you'd think the former president might've reevaluated the somewhat controversial items on display in the bar of Trump Tower. As reported by HuffPost in September 2022, an emptied folder labelled 'classified' and marked with the presidential seal, along with a Situation Room brochure, were spotted inside a glass display unit in the 45 Wine and Whiskey Bar, which is themed around Trump's presidency. If authentic, the display certainly does raise more questions about Trump's seemingly relaxed attitude to federal documents. What's more, using the presidential seal to promote a business is considered illegal.
Back in August 2022, political pranksters The Good Liars took a picture of the documents on show. It's unclear if the folder is legitimate, though the brochure does appear to be well-thumbed. While the brochure may be unclassified, it's marked with 'for official use only', a designation that refers to "sensitive information that is or may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act", according to federal guidelines. These rules also state that this type of information "should be handled in a manner that provides assurance that unauthorized persons do not gain access". It may come as no surprise then, that Trump has found himself in hot water due to the way he handles sensitive documents. He was indicted in June 2023 by a federal jury in Miami for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He's due to face trial for the charges in May 2024.
Moving from politics to show biz, there was a recent collision of reality TV titans in Trump's flagship tower. Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner made headlines after the Commercial Observer reported that the Trump Organization was suing a Trump Tower business once associated with the momager. Jenner was formally the chairwoman of Legacy Business School, which opened its main campus in the building in 2016. However, a lawsuit was filed on 16 September 2022 with New York County Supreme Court, alleging that the company has failed to pay more than $1 million (£789k) in back rent. This is despite Legacy Business School charging students a staggering $105,000 (£83k) a year for its master's and bachelor's degree programs.
Trump Tower requested that the court instruct a "sheriff or New York City marshal" to evict Legacy Business School, after their lease was terminated in July 2022. While Legacy Business School still lists their flagship location in Trump Tower on LinkedIn, their website is no longer active. This image shows a Trump Tower commercial space offered for rent, which may be similar to the unit leased by Legacy. Back in 2020, investors who claimed to be the company's majority owners sued the school’s founder, Alessandro Nomellini, for allegedly defrauding them by obtaining additional shares in the business.
Pictured here in a commercial for the school, Kris Jenner initially became the face of the institution when it first opened its doors in Trump Tower. The first 100 students to enroll were reportedly treated to an "exclusive dinner" with the reality TV mogul. However, Jenner cut ties with the company after The Daily Beast ran an exposé alleging that according to the New York Department of Education, the company was actually a rebrand of the European School of Economics. The beleaguered business has been sued dozens of times for failing to repay its debts. There is no suggestion that Kris Jenner was aware of any illegality.
Known for his early real estate acumen, Donald Trump put his gift of the gab and mastery of the art of the deal to exemplary use, parting with virtually none of his own money to construct the $300 million (£237m) skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue. According to a New York Times profile from 1983, he garnered bumper loans from the likes of the Equitable Life Assurance Society and Chase Manhattan bank. With the finance done and dusted, construction work began on the 58-storey tower in 1979.
The shrewd property developer was even able to snag a super-generous tax break on the luxe mixed-use tower worth up to an estimated $50 million (£39.5m) that was originally intended to incentivise the construction of low and middle-income housing. During his real estate career, the New York Times estimates that Trump has secured at least $885 million (£700m) in tax abatements.
The tax rebate was initially denied by the City of New York, which at the time was headed by Mayor Ed Koch, a long-time Trump adversary. The Donald sued, labelling the mayor 'a moron', and emerged victorious. The Democratic politician clapped back by calling him one of the most unlikeable people he'd ever met and “greedy, greedy, greedy”.
After settling on the site of the handsome Art Deco Bonwit Teller department store adjacent to the Tiffany & Co flagship on Fifth Avenue, Trump cosied up to a major shareholder in Genesco, the owner of the venerable retailer, and was able to buy the lease, paving the way for the 12-storey store's demolition and the erection of the flashy tower housing upscale retailers, offices, restaurants and condos.
Constructed in 1929, the landmark building had more than its fair share of architectural treasures, including two exquisite Art Deco Dancing Lady bas-reliefs by celebrated sculptor Rene Paul Chambellan. Trump promised the friezes, which were valued at around $200,000 (£158k), to the MET, but according to the New York Times, secretly arranged for them to be smashed with jackhammers.
The ornate Art Deco grillwork that adorned the entrance of the department store was also earmarked for the art museum, but ended up obliterated as well. Trump said the artworks were 'garbage' and argued that preserving them would have been too costly. Needless to say, he was slammed by the New York Times for “esthetic vandalism” and savagely criticised by Mayor Ed Koch.
As president, Trump was especially tough on illegal immigration but in 1980 he hired 200 undocumented Polish workers to demolish the Bonwit Teller store. The non-unionised workers earned a pittance, taking home as little as $4 (£3.16) an hour, less than half the union wage, and many weren't even paid at all.
Worst of all, the undocumented workers toiled away for 12 hours at a time in extremely unsafe conditions. Health and safety practices were almost non-existent and the labourers worked without hard hats, masks and gloves, exposing themselves to asbestos and other toxins. They eventually sued in a class-action lawsuit and won a $1.4 million (£1.1m) payout, a sum discovered after a Time Magazine freedom of information request opened up court documents that had been sealed for 20 years.
Arson attacks were par for the course on building sites in New York back in the early 80s, and Trump Tower endured three fires that were deliberately started during its construction. The unfinished tower was also damaged by a blaze in January 1982 sparked by a heater used to stop newly poured concrete from freezing.
Despite the succession of fires, Trump lobbied in the late 1990s against a bill mandating the installation of sprinklers in New York skyscrapers, including his signature tower. Like many of his decisions, it all came down to money – retrofitting a sprinkler system would have cost $4 (£3.16) per square foot. This stance would come back to haunt him as we shall see later.
Unlike the majority of New York high-rises erected in the late 70s and 80s, which relied on steel, Trump Tower was built mostly from concrete. The mafia pretty much controlled the supply of the material in the construction industry, so it's not unusual that Trump turned to a company called S&A Concrete – owned by mobster Anthony 'Fat Tony' Salerno – for his concrete, paying artificially high prices for the privilege.
In an interview with GQ in 1984, Trump's then-wife Ivana boasted that an entire Italian mountain was demolished to provide the 240 tons of white-veined peach-pink Breccia Pernice marble that clad the tower's atrium and other public spaces. According to the skyscraper's architect Der Scutt, “we took the whole mountain top... you can't get any more.”
Trump reportedly dubs his tower "Tiffany's" after the famed jewellery retailer next door. He actually bought the store's air rights for $5 million (£4.1m) in order to construct his signature skyscraper and reveres the brand so much, he named his youngest daughter in homage to it. When it opened, however, Trump packed his tower with high-end competitors including Asprey, Cartier and Harry Winston. Luxury Spanish fashion house Loewe also opened a store in the finished tower.
Upon completion, Trump Tower rocked a total of 263 condos, 91 of which were priced at a million dollars or more. Compared to many high-end apartments today though, the condos are relatively basic, with small, windowless kitchens, and many lack the luxury features we expect to come as standard today in high-end properties, including must-haves such as walk-in closets and twin bathroom sinks.
Reaction to Trump Tower was decidedly mixed. The New York Times dubbed it “Trump's least bad bad building” and though its top critic Ada Louise Huxtable praised the exterior, she called the atrium “a pink marble maelstrom.” Another writer for the newspaper considered it “preposterously lavish", while the eminent Paul Goldberger lauded the atrium but derided the “hyperactive” exterior.
Before the tower opened, a rumour abounded that the newly married Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Princess Diana were planning to move into one of the building's condos. No prizes for guessing who originated it, of course. Though conflicting reports suggest this was fake news, the rumour proved wonderfully lucrative and according to the real estate magnate himself “was the one that most helped Trump Tower”.
A further rumour published in the New York Post suggested that Princess Diana was planning to move into Trump Tower after her divorce from the then-Prince Charles was finalised. While sources at Buckingham Palace flatly denied the claim, it would have been a smart base for the much-loved royal to meet and greet New York's most elite social circles and forge a new life in the US.
Trump has always loved to court celebrities at Mar-a-Lago, and that was certainly the case back in the early 80s at Trump Tower. Over the years, the real estate mogul has attracted a long list of famous names to his signature skyscraper. He and Ivana are pictured here with Michael Douglas and his then-wife Diandra, along with boxing promoter Don King.
Having struck up an enduring friendship with Michael Jackson during the 1980s, Trump ended up renting to the controversial King of Pop and his wife at the time, Lisa Marie Presley. They lived in the duplex that was once home to Donald's parents, Fred and Mary, for a total of 10 months in 1994. The superstar is thought to have paid a whopping $110,000 (£87k) a month for the condo, well above the going rate.
Liberace met Trump while hunting for a condo in the tower in 1985 and the duo hit it off straight away. The real estate tycoon was so bowled over, he personally showed the flamboyant pianist around the pad and let him live there rent-free for a time, as long as he mentioned 'Trump' during his New York concert run. The pair shopped for furs together and Trump would often give Liberace property developing advice, one of his mantras being “you never use your own money”.
In 1987 legendary talk show host and Trump Tower resident Johnny Carson, who was known for having a mean streak, made Trump fire two employees he accused of stealing an expensive Vicuna wool coat, only to find the precious garment months later at the back of his closet. He moved out not long after and the condo was later acquired by Bruce Willis, who sold it in 2005 for $13 million (£10.3m).
Billionaire director Steven Spielberg had an apartment in the building bought for him by Universal Pictures, but he rarely stayed there. Instead, he let Trump's future nemesis Hillary Clinton have the use of it in 2000 during her New York senate run. In fact, Trump and Clinton were on good terms back then, and the former First Lady even attended his wedding to Melania Knauss in 2005.
Among the other famous people who have resided in Trump Tower are Sophia Loren, Harrison Ford, actor and director Vincent Gallo, Miss USA 2013 Erin Brady and musical theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, who sold his 5,300-square-foot duplex in 2010 for $16.5 million (£13m).
An astonishing number of condos in Trump's signature tower are owned by shadowy limited liability companies (LLCs) that conceal their ultimate owners' identities, according to Vanity Fair. These private businesses are registered in a number of locations, some of which are out-and-out tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Puerto Rico and Dubai.
In 2016, a Twitter thread gave a floor-by-floor round-up of all the dubious characters that have resided in Trump Tower at one time or another, and rapidly went viral. The dozen villains mentioned include Trump's former campaign advisor Paul Manafort, who was convicted for federal crimes but later pardoned by his old boss.
Several Russian gangsters have owned or leased condos in the building. They include murderous 'boss of bosses' Vyacheslav Ivankov (pictured), who was gunned down in Moscow in 2009, New York Russian Mafia bigwig David Bogatin – he bought five condos in 1984 for $6 million (£5m) – and trio Anatoly Golubchik, Vadim Trincher and Michael Sall, who ran a betting and money-laundering syndicate out of the high-rise.
In 1986, Lucchese Mafia crime family associate Robert Hopkins was arrested in one of his Trump Tower units for ordering a hit on a rival. The charge was later dismissed, but Hopkins was convicted for operating New York's biggest gambling ring out of the condo. While they were not close associates, a Village Voice article claims that Trump had personally attended the closing sale of the two apartments and watched the mobster count out the $200,000 (£158k) deposit in cash that he'd brought along in a briefcase.
While in his political career Trump called for drug dealers to face the death penalty, he actually sold a Trump Tower apartment in the late 1980s to the girlfriend of a convicted embezzler, auto thief and cocaine trafficker, Joseph Weichselbaum. According to several reliable sources, Trump had also written to the judge presiding over his case, asking for leniency.
Art dealer Helly Nahmad, who owns every single unit on the 51st floor, was imprisoned in 2014 for running a $100 million (£79m) poker and sports gambling ring from the tower, and ended up serving five months of a year-and-a-half sentence. He was among the convicted felons pardoned by Trump during his last days in office.
Staying with art world figures, Cuban-born financier and top collector Roberto Polo, who bought six condos in 1983 via an offshore shell company, was extradited from the US and convicted in Italy in 1995 for swindling clients out of $110 million (£87m), a charge he has always denied.
Together with his sons Jay and Ronald, New York clinic owner Sheldon Weinberg pulled off the biggest Medicaid fraud in history, having siphoned $16 million (£12.6m) in the 1980s from the government program. The trio rented three Trump Tower apartments with their ill-gotten gains, and as a final insult, failed to pay the moving company when they vacated the units.
Trump Tower has been home to not just one, but two corrupt Fifa officials. The late Chuck Blazer, who lived on the 17th floor, pleaded guilty in 2013 to bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. He then turned informant, helping to convict other crooked Fifa officials, including fellow Trump Tower resident Jose Maria Marin (pictured), who was held under house arrest there and sentenced to four years in prison in 2018.
Adding to the long list of nefarious characters that have owned condos in the tower, Trump sold an apartment on the 54th floor to the Haitian dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. As confirmed by Snopes, the property was purchased in 1983 for $1.7 million (£1.3m) through a Panamanian shell corporation. Duvalier and his Tonton Mercoutes militia killed and tortured thousands of Haitians under his brutal regime.
Trump did however claim that he turned down a request for office space in the tower from stock trader Ivan Boesky before he was convicted in 1987 for insider trading. “I got a funny feeling about his character,” he wrote in his Surviving at the Top book. “I’ve always been blessed with a kind of intuition about people that allows me to sense who the sleazy guys are, and I stay far away.”
As well as housing the HQ of the Trump Organization, the tower serves as Donald, Melania and Barron Trump's New York residence. The triplex penthouse on the uppermost floors was initially designed by Halston's Angelo Donghia and was relatively restrained in terms of décor. Subtle gold accents were tempered by black lacquered walls and onyx tables and muted hues abounded.
After Donald dined with flashy Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who had a larger and more lavish pad in the Olympic Tower condo building, the real estate mogul decided to go one better and redecorate his own home. He went for his now-typical no-holds-barred Louis XIV-style opulence, with just about everything dripping in 24-karat gold leaf.
Technically, Trump Tower has 58 storeys in total but Trump promoted it as a 68-floor building, which didn't go down too well with the architect Der Scutt. In fact according to Vanity Fair, the lifts actually go up to the fictional 68th floor. The property mogul says he was able to number the stories this way as the lower levels have high ceilings, enabling him to skip 10 levels.
Back in 1982 before the tower even opened, Austrian socialite Verina Hixon, who was close to Mafia-connected concrete union boss John Cody, bought six apartments for $10 million (£7.9m) and proceeded to knock them together and install a pool, the only one in the building. Unable to pay in full for the alterations and mortgage, Hixon was sued by Trump along with the banks and eventually lost the merged property.
The Trump Tower Grille, the building's flagship restaurant, has been slapped with a litany of health code violations in recent years according to an article by The Guardian. They include sightings of “live roaches” in 2016, reports of “filth flies” the following year, and incidences of “mice or live mice” infestations in 2018.
A scathing review published in Vanity Fair in 2016 concluded that the Trump Tower Grille “could be the worst restaurant in America.” As well as mocking the décor, critic Tina Nguyen found fault with just about everything from the “overcooked and mealy” steak to the fries, cocktails and desserts, and described the famed taco bowl as the most inedible thing she and her guest were served.
After Trump took a surprise victory in the 2016 US presidential election, residents began abandoning the tower in their droves and sales as well as rentals slumped big-time. In December of 2017, Vanity Fair reported that at least 14 condos had been put up for sale and asking prices had dropped by as much as 15%. Plus, out of the 14 rentals offered post-election, only five had been leased out.
The same Vanity Fair report revealed that the Pentagon had agreed to rent a duplex on the floors below Trump's triplex at an astronomical $130,000 (£107k) per month, around three times the rent of the next most expensive condo in the tower and well above the market rate. All in all, the property, which was rented for 18 months, cost American taxpayers just under $2.4 million (£1.9m).
In contrast, the Secret Service baulked at the prices the Trump Organization was demanding. After negotiations to reduce the over-inflated rent collapsed, the agency vacated its unit in the tower, which was located below the Pentagon's duplex, and set up its command post in a makeshift trailer outside the building. However, we now know they were evidently still willing to splash out on individual hotel rooms when requested to do so.
A major blaze broke out in the tower in April 2018, the second to hit the building that year, and burned through the 50th floor. The Fire Commissioner at the time, Daniel Nigro, told CNN that the upper levels lack sprinklers but otherwise that the building "sure stood up quite well". Tragically, art collector Todd Brassner was killed and six firefighters suffered injuries in the inferno. It later emerged that Brassner had been desperate to move out and filed for bankruptcy in 2015. The Trump Tower board went on to sue the hard-up art aficionado's estate for non-payment of maintenance fees.
Gucci, which has its global flagship in the building and remains the tower's biggest commercial tenant, recently renewed its lease until 2026, but the good news for the Trump Organization stops there. Apartment prices plummeted in 2021, hitting a 15-year low, with realtors declaring the building one of the Big Apple's least desirable luxury properties. While prices rebounded in 2022, the average Trump Tower condo price per square foot in August 2023 is $1,819 (£1.4k), which falls significantly below the Manhattan average in the second quarter of 2023, which was $2,025 (£1.6k).
One of the apartment owners trying to sell up is none other than international football legend Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese soccer star bought a 2,500-square-foot unit in 2015 for $18.5 million (£14.6m), then put it on the market in 2019 for $9 million (£7.1m). Yet despite the enormous price cut, it struggled to find a buyer and eventually sold for just $7.2 million (£5.7m).
Swanky suit-maker Marcraft Clothes, which offered $1,400 (£1.1k) Trump-branded suits in the heyday of The Apprentice once rented the entire 18th floor. According to the Washington Post, the decadent offices were said to boast two bars for schmoozing customers, but then the brand fell $664,000 (£525k) behind on rent and went out of business – its assets having dwindled to $40.75 (£32.20) in a checking account and “1,200 damaged coats,” according to court filings. Morris Bauer, a New Jersey attorney whom the company assigned to take over its assets and deal with its creditors said he wasn’t sure what happened to the Trump Tower suite, but he knew Marcraft had vacated it.
Another major tenant, Marc Fisher Footwear, the company that made Ivanka Trump shoes for her now-shuttered shoe brand, racked up a massive $1.5 million (£1.2m) in unpaid rent, according to a lawsuit that the Trump Organization filed in 2021. The lawsuit said the shoemaker had stopped paying in November 2020, and owed more than $1.4 million (£1.1m). That suit was settled on undisclosed terms in April 2021 and reportedly the brand vacated Trump Tower.
Trump Tower has one reliable tenant, however – the former president’s own political operation Make America Great Again PAC, which has raised millions of dollars in donor funds. Starting in March 2021, it paid $37,541.67 (£29.7k) per month to rent office space on the 15th floor – a space previously rented by his campaign – according to campaign finance filings. Yet, a person familiar with Trump’s PAC said that its staff rarely use the office space, so it calls into question whether this is the best use of donors' money. The PAC spent $375,000 (£296k) in rent over 10 months, yet – according to Huff Post – only donated $350,000 (£277k) to Republican candidates running for office. It has also been reported that for several months, Trump’s PAC paid the Trump Organization $3,000 (£2.4k) per month to rent a retail kiosk in the tower’s lobby, even though the lobby was closed.
This practice of converting political donations into private revenue for himself has raised eyebrows. “He’s running a con,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert at the watchdog group Common Cause. However, the payments do not appear to be illegal. As this kind of PAC has very few restrictions, Trump is free to spend the donor money at his own properties for as long as he wants. Trump spokeswoman, Liz Harrington, said at the time: “We are paying market rate for leased office space used to help President Trump build a financial juggernaut to help elect America First conservatives and flip both the House and Senate to the Republicans in the midterm elections.” She also said officials had expected the lobby to reopen, but when it remained closed, the PAC stopped paying for it.
Despite Trump’s insistence that he has no deals with Russia, it seems that building a Trump Tower in Moscow was very much a goal of the Trump Organization once upon a time. Robert Mueller’s 448-page investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election disclosed three separate proposals to develop a property in the city. Plus, signed legal documents between their business partner for the project, Andrey Rozov, and Trump outline detailed plans for the building itself, branding and facilities.
Further reports by BuzzFeed News showed a design for the huge glass skyscraper that Rozov and Trump had planned to build in Moscow City, an up-and-coming development outside of the main metropolis which already houses some of the largest skyscrapers in Europe. Designed to be 100 storeys high, the modern obelisk would be crowned with a diamond shape and carry the Trump logo on multiple sides. According to a signed letter by Donald Trump from 2015, the tower would have “approximately 250 first-class, luxury residential condominiums” and “not fewer than 150 hotel rooms”.
This version of The Spa by Ivanka Trump is from the Washington, DC hotel formally owned by Trump International – the lease was sold off in 2022 and it's now been rebranded as a Waldorf Astoria. Walls, curtains and floors were to be decked out in her signature rose gold hues and the proposed Ivanka spa experience in the Moscow tower would include a Himalayan salt room, a waterfall and 'curated rituals'.
As the tower was intended to be Europe’s tallest building, the views from the penthouse would have been unparalleled and the penthouse was to be the crowning glory. Valued at $50 million (£39.5m), BuzzFeed News also reported that Trump’s aide Michael Cohen had discussed offering the prize to Putin with his press secretary. In what would have been a canny marketing move designed to attract Russia’s very richest and most powerful residents, the idea was “to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units,” Felix Sater told BuzzFeed News. “All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.” However, after Russia allegedly hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016, plans for the lavish building were dropped as links to Russia became a political liability.
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