Coming soon: Ramat Gan Trump Tower

The Jerusalem Post ^ | March 8, 2006 | Avi Krawitz

[Cecily]

Donald Trump has made his first entry into Israel sooner than expected and is planning to build a luxury apartment building in Ramat Gan within the next five years.

Trump, in partnership with Miami-based property company Crescent Heights, has bought the original Elite chocolate plant building in Ramat Gan earmarked for the development.

Food company Strauss-Elite Ltd. said Wednesday it sold the building to a foreign investor from the United States for $ 44 million, for which it expects to make a capital gain of NIS 120m.

Crescent Heights representative in Israel, N.S. Tito Architects, confirmed that Crescent had signed an agreement with Trump to develop the project, and that they plan to build a 70 story luxury apartment and office building on the Elite site.

"Crescent Heights and Donald Trump want to build a tower for prestigious living, according to American standards," said Sami Tito, CEO of Tito Architects. "The site is an important one in the city, strategically located next to Migdal Aviv."

[Slings and Arrows]

This makes me feel a little better - if Trump is willing to sink that kind of cash into Israel, it means he thinks Israel has a future.

[finnman69]

if Trump is willing to sink that kind of cash into Israel, it means he thinks Israel has a future.

Ahhh, you have been fooled by the myth of the Donald.

He usually sinks very little of his own cash into any deals. He's the king of leveraged financing. Most of the recent Trump Towers are development partnerships where he is lending his brand and a token investment to the properties. He has very little equity in his projects. He markets and manages the buildings.

For instance, when he bought the GM Building in NYC for $878 million, jointly w/ Conseco, Conseco put up $211 million, and Mr. Trump paid $11 million.

At Riverside South,a 77 acre development on the westside of NYC, it was built by the Trump Organization, although financed by investors from Hong Kong and owned by the Hudson Waterfront Company. During his financial difficulties in the mid 90's, Trump was forced to sell this site, the former west side rail-yards. The new owners continued Mr. Trump's involvement with the property and sought to use his name to seek higher sales prices. Mr. Trump was paid $2 million annually for his oversight of the project, and he was offered an estimated 30% of the net profits upon completion of this 10 year project. The investors sold off the uncompleted project in 2005 for $1.8 billion and offered Mr. Trump $500 million. Mr. Trump contends that the property should have been sold for more than $3 billion and is currently suing the owners for selling without his consent. He is seeking $1 billion in damages.