Donald Trump

The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, one of the few projects in recent memory that the Trump Organization has undertaken without partners, was done with traditional Trump bravado. When the condo and condo-hotel project tops out at 92 stories, it will be the tallest new building in the United States.

But oh! The timing! The building is nearing completion during what is possibly the worst market conditions in a decade, and according to today's Wall Street Journal, Trump may soon run into trouble with his creditors:  read more »

In a CNN interview scheduled to air late Wednesday afternoon, noted McCain supporter Donald Trump says that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should have moved to impeach President Bush following the start of the Iraq War:

"I was surprised that she didn't do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush," Mr. Trump said, according to a preview from CNN. "It was almost — it just seemed like she was going to really look to impeach Bush and get him out of office, which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing."

In the same interview, Mr. Trump praises Senator McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, whom he met Tuesday night at a New York fundraiser: "I can only go by the people of Alaska. She's got the highest rating in the whole Unites States, as being the most popular governor."

"I refuse to sell the soul of Oz," a defiant Jennifer Oz LeRoy, the alluring 30-year-old owner of Tavern on the Green, said in an interview with Page Six Magazine.

As The Observer reported last year, Ms. LeRoy is facing a potential bidding war over the iconic Central Park eatery--the second-highest-grossing independently run restaurant in the country in 2007--which she inherited from her flamboyant father, the late Warner LeRoy.

Many of the city's most illustrious restaurateurs are said to be in the running for the lucrative concessions contract with the city's Parks Department, including Gramercy Tavern operator Danny Meyer and Boathouse owner Dean Poll.

Yet, the two possible contenders quoted by the magazine seemed hesistant at best about taking over the sprawling 23,000-square-foot culinary behemoth.  read more »

"I'm just a normal girl. I don't live in a log cabin, I wear leather shoes," said eco-socialite Sloan Barnett. "I'm just like you, but I try every day to do better!" Ms. Barnett, who is 40, was the guest of honor at a book party Wednesday evening hosted by President and CEO of NBC Universal Jeff Zucker and his wife Caryn at the Central Park Boathouse. Ms. Barnett's new book, Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet, came out a couple weeks ago.

But is Ms. Barnett just a normal girl? In April 2007, the New York Times's Ruth la Ferla visited one of Ms. Barnett's "eco parties"—kind of like a Tupperware party, but with eco-friendly products—and discovered that the daughter of a cable television and cellular phone billionaire George Lindemann was pushing green housecleaning onto fancy friends like Renée Rockefeller, Valesca Guerrand-Hermès, Melania Trump, Julia Koch and Jessica Seinfeld. (Incidentally, the products were made by a brand called Shaklee, which Ms. Barnett's husband, Roger Barnett, purchased in 2004.)  read more »

The story was reported by Max Abelson, Eliot Brown and Dana Rubinstein; and written by Ms. Rubinstein.

New York's real estate community doesn't just love Mayor Bloomberg. It lurves him. And it's greeting the news of his third-term bid accordingly.

A sampling:

"Love him," said developer and landlord Alex Sapir. "Let's keep him forever."

"It's the best news I've heard in years," said residential superbroker Michelle Kleier, president and chairman of Gumley Haft Kleier.

"I can't think of anyone who's done more for New York... in my lifetime," said Howard Lorber, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman owner.

"I think he's the greatest mayor we've ever had," said Douglas Durst, of the Durst Organization. Mr. Durst even thinks President Bush should call Mr. Bloomberg down to Washington to "straighten out the financial mess."

"I think the country needs him more than the city does," he said.

Thirty-something Dumbo developer Jed Walentas called Mr. Bloomberg, "the best mayor New York has had - certainly in my lifetime."

And Donald Trump said he begs the mayor ("Michael," to him) to run whenever they meet.

"Any time I see Michael I say, please run," Mr. Trump said. "I don't want to get into the details, but any time I see him. I think it's very important."

So what gives? Why all the love for Massachusetts' own, Michael Bloomberg?  read more »

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the chairman and chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld Jr., has placed his highly prized modern art collection on the market. Also, former Lehman President Joe Gregory has sold the private helicopter that he used to commute to work every day from Huntington, N.Y. But while Lehman executives have been eager to cash out, other high-powered moguls aren't yet planning a yard sale, especially in the case of their private planes, reports Page Six Magazine.

P. Diddy recently announced that he plans to fly commercial in light of high gas prices and struggling economy, but others like investor Henry Kravis, Knicks player Stephon Marbury, NASCAR's Jeff Gordon, media mogul Bob Pittman and HDNet chairman Mark Cuban are suddenly rather shy about their personal planes.  read more »

Finally, the dithering has stopped! New York City’s real estate deciders are at last grappling with the monumental decision at hand come November: Do we want an Illinoisan or an Arizonan in the White House?

It’s taken them a while. Last we checked, in mid-July, campaign finance records showed few developers and landlords had contributed to either McCain or Obama (though plenty had donated to the coffers of hometown favorites Hillary and Rudy). But by late July, it seems they’d finally come to terms with the sorry fact that, barring a Giuliani-led military coup, there will not be a New Yorker in the White House.  read more »

Greenwich Village may be notoriously prickly about new development, but will Donald Trump's provocations never end?

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and ardent Trump SoHo opponent, has just sent out a plea for like-minded activists to inundate the City Planning Commission with requests to "change the zoning for this area to prevent more out-of-scale development like Trump SoHo 'Condo-Hotel.'''

The catalyst for this most recent burst of outrage?

According to Mr. Berman:

"Last week it was revealed that the Department of Buildings (DOB) approved an additional, 43rd floor for the 454 ft. tall Trump SoHo 'Condo-Hotel.' However, a review by GVSHP of DOB's records shows that the developer has recently submitted permit applications referring to a 44th floor, one floor even higher than DOB already approved.

 read more »

Donald Trump wants John McCain to win the presidency. The developer and landlord (and advice-book author and vodka maker) endorsed the Republican nominee on Larry King Live last night.

Pretty gosh darned rich, according to Forbes magazine.

Twelve of New York’s celebrated real estate titans bought, sold and leveraged their way onto or up Forbes' 2008 list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. While the vast sums of wealth are truly staggering, New York’s wealthy real estate developers still lag far behind the big players on Wall Street; in fact, no real estate developer was rich enough to crack America’s top 50–-Paul Milstein and family were closest at No. 68.

The list: wealth (in billions) and ranking

• Paul Milstein and family: $5 (68)
• Richard LeFrak and family: $4.5 (78)
• Stephen Ross: $4.5 (78)
• Leonard Stern: $3.7 (97)
• Donald Trump: $3 (134)
• Mort Zuckerman: $2.8 (147)
• John Catsimatidis: $2.1 (215)
• Sheldon Solow: $2 (227)
• Jerry Speyer: $2 (227)
• Tamir Sapir: $1.9 (246)
• Leon Charney: $1.5 (321)
• Steve Roth: $1.3 (377)

The Forbes 400 capped a rather unpleasant year for Harry Macklowe. Last year, Mr. Macklowe was the 239th wealthiest American, with an estimated fortune of $2 billion and an impressive portfolio of some of New York's finest real estate (the GM Building!). This year: unranked.

"Interesting that Trump is hedging his bets. There are some other unusually large donations in the filing from Democratic senators and businesses...maybe people really believe this may be the year for the Dems." ["Trump Now Likes Senate Dems Too, Just Not as Much as G.O.P."]

Lindsay Lohan thinks the media's extensive coverage of the Bristol Palin scandal is "distracting from the real issues." She would know!  [US Weekly]

Ever-decorous director Brett Ratner told the press that 15-year-old Miley Cyrus’s latest single—he directed the music video—is about her ex-boyfriend, Jonas Brother Nick. [People]

Invites to the new, infamously exclusive Eldridge bar on the Lower East Side went out today—though they're apparently slightly easier to come by than owner Matt Levine would have us believe. [Down By The Hipster]

Arthur Sulzberger has been deposed by Donald Trump's lawyers, who believe the New York Times publisher's testimony will strengthen their defamation suit against TrumpNation author Timothy O'Brien.  read more »

The state Senate Democrats have released their fundraising committee's late-August financial statements, listing $210,000 in new receipts in the past 21 days from a handful of individuals, companies and elected officials' campaign accounts. One of the few individuals to give to the Democrats' account: Donald Trump, a longtime big donor to the majority-controlling Senate Republicans, who handed over $5,000 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee on Aug. 22, according to campaign filings.

The donation comes as the Democrats have their best chance in decades to claim leadership of the chamber, as they need a swing of just one seat to quash the Republican majority.  read more »

The New York Supreme Court has ruled that New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. must submit to a deposition in the $5 billion lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against Times scribe Timothy L. O'Brien, author of the 2005 book TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. In it, Mr. O'Brien labeled the New York developer and landlord a mere millionaire, which irked Mr. Trump mightily.

His lawyers last fall subpoenaed Mr. Sulzberger to question him about an email exchange with Mr. O'Brien in which the reporter predicted that Mr. Trump would "go ballistic" over portions of the book.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a lot more details, including what the Times publisher can be questioned about.

Donald Trump is reportedly planning to buy Star Search host Ed McMahon's $7 million Beverly Hills mansion--he can no longer afford to keep it-- and lease it back to him at a reduced price, presumably. [TMZ]

Guests of Blue Star Jets CEO Todd Rome's large wedding to Vanessa Brahms are filling up all the hotel rooms in Southampton. [P6]

30-year-old musician Ryan Leslie and 18-year-old model Chanel Iman were seen together at Da Silvano the day after they arrived at Vibe Magazine's Fifteenth Anniversary party together. (Last Item)
[NYDN]

Tweenage groupies have been staking out the Trump International at Columbus Circle in hopes of spotting the Jonas Brothers, who have been staying there this week. [P6]

Actress Sienna Miller's mother is defending her daughter's romance with recently-seperated actor and oil heir Balthazar Getty. [US Weekly]

Hamptons residents who paid up to $2,500 a plate to hang out with Gwyneth Paltrow at a benefit for the Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue Organization at Steven Klein's Bridgehampton farm (read Daily Transom's account!) were upset when the actress refused to come out of the host's house for most of the evening. [NYDN]

Maybe she was just saving her energy? Ms. Paltrow later attended at party at Def Jam Chairman L.A. Reid's house celebrating Mariah Carey's recent marriage to Nick Cannon. Mary J. Blige, Kelly Ripa, Samuel L. Jackson and Star Jones were also there. [P6]  read more »

Mary-Kate Olsen won't have to talk to the police about Heath Ledger's death after all. [NYDN]

Graydon Carter bought the lease on the Monkey Bar on East 54th Street. One of his partners told the Post, "It's just going to be a little bar in Midtown." Just like the Waverly Inn is a little bar in the West Village! [P6]  read more »

Scarlett Johansson is still talking about being friends with Barack Obama on the Internet. [Newsday]

It’s been 23 years since the Upper West Side first gasped at Donald Trump’s plans for a series of soaring towers that would contain 7,600 apartments and a 150-story headquarters for NBC on the 75-acre Penn Central rail yards.

The battle that followed was an epic one—Mr. Trump this week recalled it as a “war to the death”—with politicians making and breaking careers on the issue. The project, first dubbed Television City, then Trump City, and ultimately Riverside South, underwent a series of permutations and eventually was scaled back and approved, gradually rising in an undulating row of apartment towers just east of the West Side Highway.  read more »

Developers like Donald Trump and chocolatiers like Alison Nelson aren't the only ones eyeballing real estate in Dubai.

New York magazine reports that at least two Manhattan nightlife impressarios, Pink Elephant owner Josh Kaiser and Star Lounge proprietor Charles Ferri, are both planning to open new posh boites in the emirate.

In fact, I spoke with Mr. Ferri back in May about his Middle Eastern aspirations:

"Dubai is super important right now," he said. "We're looking to do a big, big club out there. They're basically flying me out there for a month."

The new venue would be located in a hotel, he added -- one of the few types of places the emirate permits booze.

On Monday night, the Trump Organization threw a lavish party in Midtown to celebrate the launch of its new Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai.

I wanted to know: How does the booming hotel market in Dubai compare to that of New York?

The dapper Donald Trump Jr. replied, "The high-end suites over there would be very comparable to the best you have in New York, and vice versa."

Fair enough. But what about bedbugs? Is the high-end Arab lodging scene just as prone to the nasty blood-sucking insects as the inns of Manhattan?

"Not that I’m aware of," the younger Trump said.  read more »

In the next few weeks, when the Russian fertilizer billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev buys Donald Trump’s gargantuan Palm Beach estate Maison de L’Amitie for a reported $100 million, it will be the biggest sale ever of a single-family home in America.

“You don’t have to worry about me at all,” Mr. Trump told The Observer, when asked about the country’s real estate woes. “We’re doing well.”

Besides the bizarreness of a record-breaking sale during a mostly cruel year for real estate, there’s the astounding fact that the listing broker, Lawrence Moens—Mr. Trump calls him Larry—had only been showing the property since March.  read more »

A trio of mimes, dressed up like tall, white palm trees, were moving around quite admirably on stilts. Yet slinky model Heidi Klum was the one complaining about blisters during a lavish party at Seagram’s Plaza along Park Avenue on Monday, June 23, celebrating the erection of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai.

“I need to sit down—my feet hurt,” said Ms. Klum, clomping away from a scaled-down model of the structure (complete with mini-monorail) in four-inch platform heels. When the Transom respectfully requested more sound bites, she blushingly demurred, saying, “You vil have a lot of commas in there, and a lot of dots.  read more »

It all started so promisingly for Donald Trump. He arrived in Scotland in 2006, trumpeting plans for the "world's greatest golf course" in the birthplace of golf--and the birthplace of his late mother, Mary MacLeod. He was feted for his efforts to pump over $2 billion into the local Aberdeen area economy and to create more than 6,000 jobs.

Now, the plans for the Trump International Golf Links (and assorted luxury housnig) seem in jeopardy. As the Wall Street Journal reports today, it's not just the farmer refusing to sell his land in what would be the middle of Mr. Trump's course or the government inquiry that's under way right now. No, it's Mr. Trump:  read more »

A Gossip Girl spin-off show set at an all girls boarding school and headlined by Taylor Momsen's character, Jenny Humphrey, possibly in the works. [Hollywood Reporter]

While speaking at a public hearing in Scotland to push his $2 billion golf resort, Donald Trump said, "We have a President in the United States who's terrible. He stinks." [NY Daily News]

Tatum O'Neal sang karaoke last night with Radar's Neel Shah at Broadway East on the Lower East Side. They performed a duet of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." [Radar]  read more »

Donald Trump plans to build what according to him will be "the greatest golf course in the world" at the Menie Estate in Scotland.

This morning, he made a case for the $2 billion golf resort to local residents and concerned environmental planners during a public inquiry in the nearby city of Aberdeen.  read more »

“Tonight is what I call menu night: You get a little taste of what the company does throughout the season,” said socialite and American Ballet Theater board member Blaine Trump during intermission at the company’s opening night and spring gala at the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday, May 19. “To be honest, I always thought I was going to be a ballerina when I grew up,” she added.  read more »

Leighton Meester goes on Conan O'Brian and totally doesn't act like Blair. [Daily Intel]

The newest pseudo-intern at the Vogue mothership is New York Ranger, Sean Avery, who like most Conde interns might travel to the European couture shows with Anna. [WWD]  read more »

Gristedes grocery store billionaire John Catsimatidis apparently has the support of Donald Trump in his race for mayor.

The New Yorker’s Ben McGrath reports that Mr. Catsimatidis has signed up pledges of support from not only Mr. Trump but also from most of the “at least thirty-five to forty percent of the Congress, and most of the major governors” who, according to Mr. Catsimatidis, “know I’m doing what I have to do.”  read more »

There's an excellent profile of Trump SoHo in this week's New York magazine--which happens to come awfully close to suggesting that the building is seriously tied to mob money. But its most swaggering and cold-hearted quote doesn't come from Mr. Trump himself! "We don’t want airline hostesses here," says neighborhood activist Sean Sweeney, the director of SoHo Alliance, explaining his opposition to the building, "or people coming from Europe or Asia for a couple of weeks."

Then there's this mean zinger: "Who was the first buyer in that building—a Croatian-Swedish soccer player?" (It's Inter Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swede born to Bosnian parents). "Trump represents everything we hate. Bad taste. Déclassé. He’s uptown, we’re downtown, and never the two shall meet," Mr. Sweeney says.  read more »

Bittersweet Symphony? Ashlee Simpson may not be welcomed back to Saturday Night Live after her 2004 appearance exposed her lip-synching talents. Also, Page Six hears that the young Mr. Simpson was not exactly a hit with the show's producers. [P6]  read more »

Democratic Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. of the Bronx says there us a budget that needs to be passed, and he doesn't think it is important if Eliot Spitzer is around to pass it or not.

“We’re still going to move forward,” Diaz, told me just now. “Either this governor or Governor David Paterson is going to sign the budget. There has to be a budget,” he said, reminding me that it is due on April 1.

I asked why he and more of his colleagues haven’t taken the position that Spitzer needs to stay in office in order to accomplish the Democrat’s legislative goals.  read more »

So sayeth Donald Trump in the new Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges Into Success.

Referencing the oft-cited quotation from Robert Moses ("a great figure in the history of New York City"), Mr. Trump was recalling his efforts to build the Trump Tower at 721 Fifth Avenue.

Donald Trump shares how he won the battle to build the Trump SoHo condo-hotel at Varick and Spring streets in his new book, Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges Into Success (out about six weeks ago from Wiley).

Mr. Trump recounts how he marched against a rabble-rousing minority:  read more »

The blogs are buzzing with news that the construction of the lower floors of Trump SoHo resumed this morning for the first time since worker Yurly Vanschytskyy died and two others were seriously injured in a tragic accident last month.

The Department of Buildings gave the general contractor Bovis Lend Lease clearance to continue work on the first 23 floors, but held off on authorizing concrete or crane usage. Bovis has boosted safety measures at the site and hired a manager to oversee the rest of construction.

Just as one would expect from New York’s iconic (and notoriously immodest) New York developer, the Trump Organization issued a press release Thursday about banner condo sales at the remarkably resilient residential-hotel tower on Spring and Varick.  read more »

It's barely two months into 2008, and the Trump SoHo condo-hotel on Spring and Varick streets has already weathered a fair share of obstacles and still managed to sell over half the units. First, one of Donald Trump's development partners was implicated in some shady financial dealings. Then construction worker Yuriy Vanchytskyy died in a tragic accident at the building site only a month after opponents of the 44-story tower had railed against the pace of construction.  read more »

The last time this reporter interviewed Donald Trump, the guru responded to an inoffensive question by saying: “[Y]our questions are nasty and yet I answer them. I could throw you out; I guess if they got a little nastier I probably would.”

Mr. Trump, lips pursed, was not a man to quibble with.  read more »

"I was scared to death of him," Miss USA Tara Conner says of Trump on his upcoming "E! True Hollywood Story." Imagine what Rosie would say. (Page Six)

Charlie Rose joins "60 Minutes," which continues its refusal to target audiences under 50. (NYT)

Clay Aiken debuts in "Spamalot" today. (Goings On)

Chris Martin attacks a photographer when bringing wife Gwyneth Paltrow home from the hospital. (Page Six)

Lily Allen suffers a miscarriage in her first pregnancy. (US)

Lindsay Lohan has to spend a couple days working at a morgue – drunk driving means dead people, you know? (NYT)

In that weird Tom Cruise Scientology video, he takes credit for saving Ground Zero workers. (Page Six)

In this week's Observer, Yale University's Robert Shiller--the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics--warned that New York's real estate bubble "can’t keep going like this!"

Donald Trump will be on the FOX Business Network tonight at 6 with some similar warnings. "I’m in the real estate business and I’m lucky I’m in Manhattan and I’m just wondering when it is going to hit Manhattan," Mr. Trump says, according to an early transcript. "How can it be that Manhattan is stronger than ever and everything else is dead?”

But things are even worse elsewhere, the guru says.  read more »

The Fire Department is saying that three have been injured in the accident this afternoon at the Trump SoHo at 246 Spring Street, which the police now say was a collpase that occured while pouring concrete. The construction worker that fell and died was male, the police said.