Other acquisitions in New York City include the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street, the landmark 1.3-million-square-foot, 72-story building located in Manhattan’s Financial District, directly across from the New York Stock Exchange and the tallest building in downtown Manhattan after the new World Trade Center. This purchase, which occurred during the depths of the New York City real estate market, is said to be one of the best real estate deals made in the past 25 years and is considered to have one of the most beautiful “Tops” of any building in the country. In addition, Mr. Trump built 610 Park Avenue (at 64th Street), formerly known as the Mayfair Regent Hotel, which was very successfully converted into super-luxury condominium apartments achieving, at that time, the highest prices on Park Avenue. Further east, adjacent to the United Nations, sits the spectacular Trump World Tower, a 90-story luxury residential building and one of the tallest residential towers in the world. The Trump World Tower has received rave reviews from architecture critics, with Herbert Muschamp of the New York Times calling it “a handsome hunk of a glass tower.” Likewise, Trump World Tower is considered one of the most successful condominium towers ever built in the United States.
In 2001, Mr. Trump announced plans for his first foray into Chicago, where he built the Trump International Hotel & Tower/Chicago. The 2.7-million-square-foot, 92-story mixed-use tower is located on the banks of the Chicago River, directly west of Michigan Avenue (the most prominent site in Chicago), and is one of the tallest residences in the world and the ninth-tallest building in the world. The architect is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, and the tower also includes four levels of retail shops. The hotel opened in January of 2008 to great acclaim, and in 2010 received Travel + Leisure magazine’s award as the #1 Hotel in the US and Canada as well as their “World’s Best Business Hotel” Award in 2014. Condé Nast Traveler has ranked the hotel in its “Readers’ Choice Awards” every year since 2011. The hotel has earned Five-Star ratings for hotel and restaurant in the Forbes Travel Guide Awards in 2014 and 2015, and has been a AAA Five Diamond Hotel award winner since 2011.
In 2002, Mr. Trump purchased the fabled Delmonico Hotel, located at 59th Street and Park Avenue, and redeveloped it into a state-of-the-art luxury 35-story condominium named Trump Park Avenue. It was Mr. Trump’s desire to make this one of the most luxurious buildings in New York City, which was achieved. Mr. Trump has been lauded by a multitude of publications for having retained the grandeur and charm of the building while incorporating 21st-century services and amenities. Mr. Trump is co-owner, with Vornado Realty Trust, of the iconic 555 California Street tower (the Bank of America Building) in San Francisco, one of the most important office buildings on the West Coast of the US, and the prized 1290 Avenue of the Americas building, one of New York’s biggest buildings, with the largest office floorplates in New York.
Mr. Trump’s portfolio of holdings also includes Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, New York, a signature Fazio golf course and residential development, and a 250-acre estate known as the Mansion at Seven Springs, the former home of Katharine Graham (of The Washington Post), which will be developed into a world-class luxury housing development. Mr. Trump also purchased one of the largest parcels of land in California, which fronts on the Pacific Ocean. A Donald J. Trump championship golf course, called Trump National Golf Club/Los Angeles, has been built on this site, and it has been voted the number one golf course in California. Seventy-five luxury estates will follow. In addition, the Tom Fazio–designed Trump National Golf Club has been built in Lamington Farms in Bedminster, New Jersey, on the 525-acre Cowperthwaite Estate, considered to be the best in the state. An additional 18-hole course was opened recently. In November of 2008, Mr. Trump received approval to develop Trump International Golf Links Scotland, located in Aberdeen, Scotland, with more than three miles of spectacular ocean waterfront (the North Sea). It opened on July 10 of 2012, and a second 18-hole course has been approved. In July 2013, Golf Week magazine named Trump International Golf Links Scotland “The Best Modern Day Golf Course in the World.” In August of 2008, Mr. Trump purchased a golf course in Colts Neck, New Jersey, which is now Trump National Golf Club/Colts Neck, and in February of 2009 he bought an 800-acre parcel of land and club near Washington, DC, which fronts the Potomac River for three miles, to become Trump National Golf Club, Washington, DC. Two more golf courses were added to his portfolio in December of 2009, Trump National Golf Club—Philadelphia, and Trump National Golf Club—Hudson Valley. In April of 2010, a new celebrity reality series, Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf, debuted on Golf Channel with great success.
In Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Trump converted the famous and historic estate owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post and E. F. Hutton, Mar-a-Lago, into the private, ultra-luxury Mar-a-Lago Club. It received the award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences as the “Best Club Anywhere in the World.” It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1980, and Mar-a-Lago is often referred to as “The Jewel of Palm Beach.” Also in Palm Beach and located seven minutes from Mar-a-Lago is the Trump International Golf Club. Designed by the famed golf course architect Jim Fazio, this $40 million golf course has magnificent tropical landscaping, water features, and streams and elevations of 100 feet (unprecedented in all of Florida). Opened in October 1999, this course has been acclaimed as one of the best in the United States. An additional nine-hole course was opened in 2006 to equal acclaim.
The Trump Hotel Collection was created to designate a new level of internationally important hotels, defined by elegance and attention to detail. One of the most elegant additions to the Las Vegas skyline is a super-luxury 60-story hotel condominium tower, the five-star Trump International Hotel Las Vegas. This hotel was named by USA Today as the “Best Bet in Vegas” in 2012 and was listed on Travel + Leisure’s list of “World’s Best Business Hotel Awards” in 2011. Current and future developments in the Trump Hotel Collection include towers in SoHo/New York (which opened in spring of 2010 and made Travel + Leisure magazine’s list of the best new hotels—the only one in New York to be included—as well as the AAA Five Diamond distinction in 2013 and 2014, and their “World’s Best Business Hotel Awards: New York” in 2011), Chicago (opened 2008), Waikiki/Hawaii (opened November 2009 and received Forbes Travel Guide’s Five-Star hotel rating in 2015), Panama (opened July 2011 and received the Luxury Travel Advisor’s “Top 10 Luxury Hotel Openings” in 2011), Toronto (which received the Forbes Five-Star rating in 2014), Trump National Doral Miami (which completed its $250 million transformation in early 2015), and Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland (a highly sought-after acquisition by the Trump Organization in 2014). International hotel developments as of 2015 include Baku, Azerbaijan (opened in June 2015); Vancouver, BC, and Rio de Janiero, both opening in 2016. Trump Towers, Istanbul, Şişli, combines two towers (one residential tower and one office tower), located in the vibrant Mecidiyeköy district.
In February of 2012, the Trump Organization was selected as the developer of the famous Old Post Office Building in Washington, DC. This building is considered a prized jewel, and competition for it was fierce. Plans include a 300-room super-luxury hotel, a museum gallery, and retaining the original exterior façade, doors, hallways, and other interior features. When completed, this hotel, which sits on Pennsylvania Avenue, will be one of the most luxurious in the world, and it is seen as a generational asset by the Trump family. Trump International Hotel Washington, DC, is slated to open in 2016.