Trump Tower’s Troubles

• Residents of Trump Tower are less than enthused that ‘The Donald’ won the race to become President of the United States of America
• They loathe the new security measures and many “ want out”
• Elsewhere, Trump’s first childhood home is expected to sell for ten times what it would if it were not connected to him (according to a rather ambitious broker)
  

Trump Tower at 725 Fifth Avenue in New York was only ever going to appeal to the bold and the brash but now it’s become somewhat of an inconvenient place for the super-wealthy to live reports the New York Post.

Constructed in 1983 and 58 stories tall (though The Trump Organization unsurprisingly like to refer to it having 68 floors instead), the building includes 26 floors of offices and commercial space. Gucci’s flagship store occupies the building’s 5^th Avenue corner and the remainder of the tower is split into “elite luxury residences”.

Once counting ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, ex-dictator of Haiti, Liberace, Michael Jackson and Andrew Lloyd-Webber amongst its residents, current occupants of Trump Tower are said to number Bruce Willis and Cristiano Ronaldo. Former President of the Brazilian Football Confederation José Maria Marin was held under house arrest in his Trump Tower apartment following being accused of corruption in May 2015 and fellow ex-jailbird Helly Nahmad, an art dealer and one time poker playing pal of Leonardo DiCaprio, owns six apartments on the 51^st floor.

Also including spaces used by Donald Trump to house his offices and as the boardroom setting for his NBC programme The Apprentice, Trump Tower is best known, however, because the President-elect lives in an elaborately decorated Louis XIV-style £71.4 million ($90 million, €82.9 million or درهم‎‎331 million) penthouse there. He is said to love it and described its construction as “more complicated in design terms than the rest of the building combined”.

Due to ‘The Donald’s’ newfound status as the most powerful man in the world, the New York Post stated Friday that Trump Tower now has Secret Service agents “all over the place”, is being protected by concrete barriers and is surrounded by anti-Trump protesters. “It’s not so easy being a member of the one percent if you live at Trump Tower” the paper concluded, whilst a nameless “top broker” added:

“[Residents] can’t get into their own homes without being stopped and frisked and having to show ID. These are wealthy people. They don’t need this, and they can’t take it any longer. They no longer want to stay there. Some of them are already planning on moving out, and they’ll decide later whether or not they want to sell”.

God help the residents and commercial tenants – A “gaudy” 63^rd floor condo just below Trump’s personal residence in the tower has languished on the market for £18.3 million ($23 million, €21.2 million or درهم84.5 million) since October 2015 whilst observers stated the trophy retail client Gucci “store is now deserted”. Its general manager was said to be “meeting with Trump’s people now, deciding what to do”.

Elsewhere… Divorcing couple set to strike gold thanks to Trump (allegedly)

A divorcing couple look set to set to make over £6.6 million ($8.3 million, €7.7 million or درهم30.5 million) selling a house built by Donald Trump’s father that was also the President-elect’s very first home.

Bought by restaurateurs Isaac and Claudia Kestenberg for $782,500 in 2008 (the equivalent of £697,000, $877,000, €810,000 or درهم3.2 million today) and previously listed with a minimum bid of just £675,000 ($849,000, €784,000 or درهم3.1 million), experts claim “the house could bring up to £7.9 million ($10 million, €9.2 million or درهم36.7 million) at auction from a wealthy buyer interested in owning a piece of presidential history” according to 6sqft.

Of 85-15 Wareham Place in Jamaica Estates, New York, well-known broker Dolly Lenz remarked:

“The house has at least tripled in value if not then times in value… Now that he’s [President-elect], it’s worth a lot more. It’s a huge deal. And there are lots of wealthy people who buy trophy homes as one-offs. Think of all the billionaires who could turn this into a museum”.

One word springs to mind and that is “bonkers” and we’ll follow that with two others: “Highly unlikely”.