In 2009 Jared and Ivanka joined their lives at Trump National Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey. No cost was spared. Her gorgeous gown rang up to $50,000 itself, with an added expense of $220,000 to adorn with jeweled accessories. They would then move into their starter home, a 4,200-square-foot, four-bedroom spread at Trump Park Avenue tower on the Upper East Side in 2011. With a darling nursery in one of the rooms, they set off on building a family.
The penthouse was theirs for about $10.2 million. The stylish digs, designed by Manhattan decorator Kelly Behun, were featured in Elle Decor, but by now they’ve relocated the family to D.C., obviously.
The Bachelor Pad
Just imagine Donald J. Trump in the ‘70s. His silver chauffeured Cadillac with custom plates is pulling up to the Phoenix apartment building on the Upper East Side. He’s worth more than $200 million. Tall, blonde and 30, he’s taking in panoramic views, punctuated by the Empire State Building, as he heads out to meet the driver. On the elevator descent from his Manhattan penthouse apartment, he’s thinking about real deals he’ll land that day. He exits the building and makes his way to the car, climbs in and reaches to make the call on one of the world’s first car phones. When his driver returns him at the end of the business day, he prepares to chill at only the ritziest clubs and date only the slinkiest fashion models.
He’s on the cusp of national distinction, becoming a media darling with a flamboyant and brash personality to match. And it all started in his luxury apartment at the top of The Phoenix Building, an architectural gem designed by the celebrated Every Roth firm.
The Adelaide Hotel Toronto, Canada The St. Regis Toronto
First, in 2012, it was called the Trump International Hotel and Tower Toronto, in name only, and by lease. Then it became The Adelaide Hotel Toronto for a few years, and now, finally, it’s The St. Regis Toronto. Sometimes, the “Trump bump” that comes with having his name emblazoned atop high rise buildings is not an added value. This is exactly what happened in Toronto. The real estate deal he wrangled to build The Adelaide condo complex was already contentious with Canadians.
All of the investors in the residential tower lost money, except Trump. So, when he became President of the United States, protests increased. When he discriminatorily banned traveling to the U.S., he crossed a line and, in 2017, the letters of his name were gradually extricated from the tower. They started with the “M”.
The Hotel St. Moritz Investment
Trump bought the St. Moritz, another Emery Roth design, in 1982 for $72 million and sold it for $180 million in 1985. With major real estate investors vying for the Hotel St. Moritz building and property, it seemed like a huge loss for Trump when he had to sell it. Although he really wanted to develop the property next to Central Park with classier digs and the modern mirrored-glass and stainless façade and was reportedly livid when it was sold from under him, in essence, he flipped the property and more than doubled his investment when he sold it to Australian yachtsman and brewery magnate, Alan Bond, for $100 million more than he got it.
In 1997 he hoped to get a piece of the renovation project once more, but it was sold from under the investors to another investment group who partnered with the Ritz. The building was gutted and remodeled in 2002, transforming it into The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park with the top eleven floors available as sprawling penthouse apartments.
The Plaza Hotel, Manhattan, N.Y.C.
Trump truly adored owning this building. And, why not? It’s an American icon immortalized in those darling Eloise children books and by the Beatles’ stay for the 1964 U.S Beatlemania premiere. The Plaza even cameos in the quintessential American novel, The Great Gatsby. It represented power, wealth and high society. Trump treasured The Plaza, he infamously called it a “masterpiece,” “the Mona Lisa,” and so he didn’t even peep after losing $550 million and having to file for bankruptcy. Trump bought The Plaza for $390 million in 1988 and precipitously appointed Ivana Trump president of the luxury hotel. He admittedly overpaid to acquire the N.Y.C. iconic building, pouring more money into renovating it, but the income didn’t pay the bills.
It wasn’t the only investment glitch at the time, and the Trump Organization briefly collapsed under $2 billion in debt by 1990. Ivana and Donald split by 1992. After selling his share in 1995, things started to pick up for the Organization again. At the end of the day, all he has left of The Plaza is his function as a minority partner.