Donald Trump

November 10, 2016

‘Not my president’: Thousands join Anti-Trump protests across New York City

Demonstrations broke out across the country yesterday evening as hundreds of thousands gathered to protest the election of Donald Trump for president. NYC itself was largely activated by two groups, Socialist Alternative and Answer Coalition, who used social media to call upon New Yorkers to gather at Union Square and Columbus Circle, near Trump International Tower. Thousands of participants held signs emblazoned with a swath of issues now under threat, from LGBT to Black Lives Matter to the environment. Chants like "Not my president!" "Trump Makes America Hate" and "Don't Lose Hope" rang through the streets as protestors marched through Midtown to convene at Trump Tower. Among the crowds, however, were also Trump supporters who showed up to celebrate the victory.
more photos from the demonstrations

November 9, 2016

Anti-Trump protests planned in Union Square and Columbus Circle, tonight

By Metro New York

After nearly two years of controversial campaigning, countless protests and seemingly endless division, Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States. While many Americans are either celebrating the win or reeling at its results, some still have some fight left in them—or at least a protest. Socialist Alternative is planning just that Wednesday […]

Uncategorized

November 8, 2016

Don’t miss your $23M chance to be Donald Trump’s downstairs neighbor

By Annie Doge

This "yuge" Trump Tower penthouse hit the market back in October 2015, but its $23 million price tag and location just a few floors below Donald Trump's personal residence have apparently not been the biggest selling points. As 6sqft previously noted, the sprawling (albeit gaudy) condo was once owned by the Donald himself, back when his parents lived there and when he reportedly rented it out for $110,000 a month to buddy Michael Jackson and then-wife Lisa Marie Presley. But if you're still itching to be neighbors with the presidential candidate, it's not too late.
Take a look around

October 28, 2016

As the election nears, sales at Trump buildings decline

By Dana Schulz

Now that we're nearer to the election, and since the negative press surrounding all things Donald Trump has come to a head, things are starting to crumble for his real estate empire. Not only did his personal hotel brand decide to drop his moniker, but a group of Trump Place tenants even went so far as to petition their board to remove his name from their buildings. A report out today in the Times takes a closer look at how sales are declining, and data from CityRealty confirms that from 2015 to 2016, there was a 17 percent decrease in the number of sales at Trump condos.
Find out more this way

Real Estate Trends

October 27, 2016

20 years ago, the city told Donald Trump he couldn’t put his name on the Columbus Circle globe

By Dana Schulz

These days, New Yorkers are going to great lengths to get Trump's name off their buildings, and even his company itself has personally shed his moniker from their hotel brand amid declining bookings. But back in the '80s and '90s, the Donald would freely slap his name on just about anything he wanted. That is until 1996, when the Giuliani administration (sense the irony here?) denied his request to brand the giant globe outside the Trump International Hotel & Tower. The Times recently got its hands on a 20-year-old City Planning Department memorandum that outlines how the agency deemed any lettering on the sculpture illegal.
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October 21, 2016

Board shoots down residents’ petition to rename Trump Place

By Diane Pham

Add to the list of folks who want absolutely no association with this year's inflammatory Republican presidential nominee: the residents of Trump Place. According to the LA Times, a number of Trump Place tenants had been quietly petitioning to have The Donald's name removed from their entrance at 220 Riverside Boulevard. As one embarrassed resident told the paper, “I used to tell people I lived in Trump Place. Now I say I live at 66th and Riverside Boulevard.” Another said it’s “annoying” that he “always has to defend it to friends.”
Find out more here

Celebrities

Trump’s Wollman Ice Rink and Bronx golf course were more personal gain than public good

Photo via Flickr cc

October 19, 2016

Trump’s Wollman Ice Rink and Bronx golf course were more personal gain than public good

By Michelle Cohen

Photo via Flickr cc Though few would deny that Donald Trump enjoys placing himself in the spotlight, WNYC reports that the Republican presidential nominee has a history of claiming to save the day on public projects when it turns out that he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, and the city ended up holding the bag. Among his supporters, Trump has a reputation for stepping in to rescue abandoned city projects, a favorite example being Central Park’s Wollman Ice Rink. About thirty years ago, the rink had fallen into disrepair and had sat unused for six years due to the city’s inability to find the funds or move past the red tape involved in fixing it. Trump brought his “get it done” attitude to the project, offering to help fix the rink. In 1986, the city agreed to let him lend a hand. Though Trump completed the repairs on time and under budget, the rink repair job wasn't the act of philanthropy–nor the ongoing financial bonus for the city–that the candidate claims it was.
So what's the real story?

Policy

October 17, 2016

Amid declining bookings, new Trump hotel brand drops his name

By Dana Schulz

Though sales at Donald Trump's Manhattan residential buildings are still selling at a premium, national real estate and business at his hotels are different stories. Politico reports that the Trump Organization--the umbrella under which all his self-branded ventures fall, from his clothing line to golf courses--has dubbed its newly launched hotel line Scion, clearly void of his moniker, but meaning "descendant of a notable family." Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger said in a press release, "We wanted a name that would be a nod to the Trump family and to the tremendous success it has had with its businesses, including Trump Hotels, while allowing for a clear distinction between our luxury and lifestyle brands." Though this may be true, it may also have something to do with the fact that, according to travel company Hipmunk, hotel bookings at Trump properties were down 58 percent in the first half of the year.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

September 19, 2016

A Trump empire built on $885 million in tax breaks has cost the city a fortune

By Michelle Cohen

If you've followed Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump's gold-plated real estate career, you might already know how much of his success has been due to his family's extensive political connections–and generous tax breaks, grants and incentives from the government and taxpayers. In case you haven't read Trump's 1987 bestseller "The Art of the Deal," the New York Times illuminates the role that hundreds of millions in tax breaks have played in the Trump empire. While Trump may not be much different from other developers in seeking tax breaks, the candidate vociferously paints a picture of a rigged system and a fixed game. But these very fixes have enabled him to achieve a net worth estimated at 4.5 billion and the opportunity to indulge a run for the nation’s highest office.
So what's been going on here?

Naked Trump statue returns, spotted near Holland Tunnel

Photo by NYC NewsChannel via Twitter

September 16, 2016

Naked Trump statue returns, spotted near Holland Tunnel

By Metro New York

After an artists’ collective exposed the nation last month to life-sized nude Donald Trump statues in cities across the U.S.—including New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Cleveland—they have reappeared in public. The “anarchist” art collective, Indecline, placed the statues on a building rooftop near the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey, and on a […]

Events & Things To Do

Would you flee New York if Trump becomes president?

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Every four years, in the lead up to the presidential election, a new group of voters declare they will leave the country if their candidate does not get elected. According to the Google Data Editor Simon Rogers, searches for “how can I move to Canada” spiked 350 percent following March’s Super Tuesday results. But, in […]

Real Estate Trends

September 2, 2016

One month after anti-Trump sale, Keith Olbermann’s former Trump Palace condo returns for $3.9M

By Dana Schulz

Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann listed his Trump Palace condo on the Upper East Side for $3.9 million in April, publicly citing his opposition to the presidential candidate. Even though he took a loss on the sale (it went through for $3.8 million in July, but he bought it for $4.2 million in 2007), he couldn't hide his relief: "I feel 20 pounds lighter since I left… If they had changed the name of it to something more positive like Ebola Palace I would have happily stayed." Now, just a month after Olbermann's tweet that he was "FREEEEEEEEE!" and "got out with 90% of my money and 100% of my soul!" the 40th floor spread is back on the market for $3.9 million. As LLNYC reports, the buyer was Syrian businessman Albert Nasser, who has very different reasons for unloading the condo.
READ MORE

August 29, 2016

Like father like son: The Trump legacy of housing discrimination

By Michelle Cohen

Black potential tenants who just wanted a decent place to live were routinely turned away at the Trump family’s Queens housing complexes and others. Housing activists and equal housing organizations took note, and in 1973 Trump Management was sued by the Justice Department for discrimination. Some of those tenants who stood firm remember the indignities all too well. The New York Times took a look at the early days of the Trump empire, when Donald's father, Fred C. Trump, built and managed middle-income residential complexes like the Wilshire Apartments in Jamaica Estates, Queens. A former employee of the elder Trump tells the Times that when receiving applications from potential tenants who happened to be black he was told, "Take the application and put it in a drawer and leave it there."
Get a closer look at the Trump legacy

August 23, 2016

Donald Trump quintuples rent on his own campaign office now that he’s seeing donations

By Dana Schulz

Now that he's finally raking in funds from donors as opposed to cheaply self-funding his own campaign, Donald Trump is loosening the purse strings. The first order of business comes at his very own Trump Tower campaign headquarters, where he's nearly quintupled the monthly rent. According to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings, his campaign was paying $35,458 a month from last summer until up March. But in July, when the donations started coming in, that skyrocketed to $169,758. This came with a reduction of paid employees and consultants, from 197 to 172.
What's going on?

Celebrities

August 12, 2016

The Real Estate Loopholes That Let Donald Trump Look Penniless on Paper

By Michelle Cohen

As chatter surrounding Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's refusal to make his tax returns public grows louder, the New York Times explains what all the fuss is about, pointing out that while he's under no legal obligation to open up the books to public scrutiny, every presidential candidate has chosen to do so since Richard Nixon. Despite the hundreds of millions in gross revenue from his vast real estate holdings, there's a good chance that Trump has paid little–perhaps even zero–federal income tax in past years. The interesting point is that technically the candidate hasn't done anything "wrong," but rather is in the business of doing business, and that business is real estate. The opportunities that real estate can provide for the wealthy to legally avoid forking over the taxes that their incomes would otherwise dictate they pay are numerous, from hiding behind LLCs to swapping real estate purchases to avoid paying taxes.
Get the full scoop

August 5, 2016

Donald Trump’s Poor Real Estate Investments Depleted His Wealth Threefold

By Dana Schulz

Earlier this week, Donald Trump warned Americans not to invest in the stock market, reiterating his prediction that a "massive recession" is upon us. This is despite the fact that he's admitted to never being one for stocks. But when it comes to real estate, his investments have been plenty, though an analysis in the Washington Post shows us that quantity does not equal quality in this case. In fact, "had his portfolio kept pace with the real estate market over the past 40 years, he would be worth about three times as much today."
Get all the stats

Celebrities

August 4, 2016

Trump Opponents Plan to Build a 200-Foot Wall Outside the Donald’s Midtown Buildings

By Dana Schulz

All anti-Trumpers, mark your calendars for August 30th, as this is the day that a determined group of opponents plans to build a quarter-million pound, 200-foot-long sandbag wall across from Trump Tower. Designers David Haggerty and James Cazzoli have already received permits from the Central Park Conservancy (the wall will go up at West 59th Street and Avenue of the Americas, four blocks from Trump Tower and three blocks from the Trump International Hotel) and they've now launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign called "Wall in Trump" to raise the $60,000 it'll take to make this vision a reality.
Get all the details

Celebrities

July 27, 2016

In the 1980s a Group of Feisty Tenants Blocked Evictions by Donald Trump

By Dana Schulz

It's no secret that Donald Trump has engaged in some shady real estate dealings over the years, from his fraught attempt to own the Empire State Building, to the "public" gardens at Trump Tower that allowed him to build taller, to a lost battle with China over two major office buildings (not to mention his many bankruptcies). But there was at least one snafu that he wasn't able to weasel himself out of, and it was all thanks to a group of feisty residential tenants. In the early 1980s, Trump planned to evict rent-controlled and rent-stabilized tenants from 100 Central Park South (now known as Trump Parc East) and build a larger tower on this site and that of the adjacent Barbizon Plaza Hotel. He hired a management firm that specialized in emptying buildings, and they began eviction proceedings. After claiming reduced services, a lack of repairs, and overall harassment, the tenants decided to fight back, and in the end 80 percent of them remained, leading to this revelation by the Donald: "What I've learned is that the better the location and the lower the rent, the harder people fight. If I were a tenant, I'd probably be a leader too."
Get the full story here

History

July 22, 2016

Units at Trump’s 11 Manhattan Condo Buildings Are Still Selling at a Premium

By Dana Schulz

Historically, the Trump brand has boosted sales prices at Manhattan condos. Since 2005, units in the Donald's buildings have sold for an average of 31 percent more than other NYC condos. But with his beyond-contentious presidential run, it's been unclear if his real estate empire would take a hit in a city where 70 percent of registered voters are Democrats. New data brought to us by MarketWatch, however, shows that he's "still king of New York." According to an analysis by CityRealty.com of 2016 sales data at Trump's 11 Manhattan condos, these units sold for an average of $1,974 a square foot, compared with $1,873 for all other condos, a five percent advantage that was also echoed in 2015.
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Real Estate Trends

July 15, 2016

Jamaica Estates Home Where Donald Trump Grew Up Asks $1.65M

By Annie Doge

A common question about Donald Trump is "Where did he come from?" and this new listing for his childhood home in Queens may be one piece of the puzzle. Newsday reports that the Jamaica Estates home in which the presidential hopeful lived as a young boy has hit the market for $1.65 million. The six-bedroom tudor home at 85-15 Wareham Place is listed as his address on his 1946 birth certificate (he was born at nearby Jamaica Hospital) and is located in an affluent enclave where the average sales price is around $2 million according to DNAinfo.
More on Trump's beginnings

June 29, 2016

Trump vs. Clinton: How the Design of Their Merchandise Stacks Up

By Dana Schulz

On the political front, Hillary is racking in donation dollars, while Donald Trump's campaign had a mere $1.3 million to its name as of May 31st. But what about their swag? T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, tote bags. Sure, online purchases won't sway either campaign significantly, but it's interesting to look at how the polar-opposite presidential candidates are marketing themselves through merchandise. 6sqft compared the goods from both camps, and found that while Hillary's merchandise is much more colorful, playful, and plentiful, and even features designer collabs, the Donald sticks to his message and caters to a very specific audience.
See how the merch stacks up

June 20, 2016

Donald Trump’s Secret ‘Public’ Gardens Gave Him Extra Height at Trump Tower

By Dana Schulz

In light of his media-circus presidential campaign, there seems to be endless exposes about Donald Trump's past real estate drama. From his failed attempt to own the Empire State Building to a lost battle with China over two bi-coastal skyscrapers, the Donald's development empire has very often skirted the rules. The latest saga dates back to 1979, when, as Crain's uncovers, Trump struck a deal with the city for a zoning variance to build an extra 200,000 square feet, or 20 stories, at Trump Tower. In return, he agreed to create a public atrium, as well as 15,000 square feet of public gardens. But these gardens, which yielded almost all of the 244,000 square feet of office and residential space that Trump still owns in the tower (worth roughly $530 million), are hidden, hard to access, and not maintained.
The full story, right this way

Donald Trump’s Stake in Two Major Towers Came From a Lost Battle With China

1290 Avenue of the Americas in NYC (L); 555 California Street, formerly Bank of America Center, in San Francisco (R); Images courtesy of Vornado

June 1, 2016

Donald Trump’s Stake in Two Major Towers Came From a Lost Battle With China

By Dana Schulz

When Donald Trump made an attempt to own the Empire State Building, he partnered with a foreign real estate investor, in this case from Japan. But it ended in a lawsuit and a public smear campaign before he ultimately sold back his stake. A similar turn of events surrounded his dealings with another high-profile Midtown building and related San Francisco tower; you may recall this quote from the day he announced his candidacy: "I beat China all the time. I own a big chunk of the Bank of America building and 1290 Avenue of the Americas that I got from China in a war. Very valuable." As the Times explains, the battle may not have gone down quite like the Donald says, with him schmoozing his way to the top and eventually waging a losing legal battle.
The full story ahead

May 10, 2016

First Mansion Donald Trump Ever Owned Now Selling for $45M

By Dana Schulz

When Donald Trump was rising up in the real estate ranks in the early '80s (and when he was still a Democrat), he and then-wife Ivana were looking for their first "trophy mansion." In 1982, they found it in this 5.8-acre Greenwich, Connecticut estate, paying $4 million for the home on its own peninsula. At the time, Trump was busy refurbishing the Plaza Hotel, so he and Ivana infused their new home with the same ornate style of gold leaf, massive chandeliers, and moldings galore. When the couple divorced in 1991, Ivana got the mansion (among many other properties and cash), but she sold it seven years later for $15 million to owners who made the property even more opulent, adding an indoor lap pool, sauna, tennis courts, and a 4,000-square-foot guest suite addition. These owners listed the property back in January for $54 million, but it's now gotten a price chop to $45 million, according to Top Ten Real Estate News.
Live like the Donald

April 26, 2016

Trump’s Flubs: The Donald’s Failed Attempts to Erect the World’s Tallest Building in NYC

By Ondel Hylton

Presidential candidate Donald Trump's aggressive tone and occasional outlandish statements have dominated the conversation in the Republican primaries, and today is sure to be no different. Though his supporters feel that he's a shoo-in, his real estate track record hasn't always resulted in success. Take for example his fraught attempt to own the Empire State Building, which ended in lawsuits and public shaming, or his $80 million loss on the Plaza Hotel, which resulted from his near bankruptcy in the '90s. In addition to these public debacles, the developer-turned-showman-turned-politician has envisioned at least three of the world's tallest buildings in New York over the years, which makes sense for a man who glories in superlatives and for whom every project is a flamboyant gesture. In honor of the Donald's never-ending presence, 6sqft decided to take a look at these never-realized, sky-high proposals, which include the New York Stock Exchange Tower, Television City Tower, and 10 Columbus Circle.
Get the story behind all these failed attempts

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