Industry News

SALES ARE BRISK AT THE TRUMP INTERNATIONAL HOTEL & TOWER, CHICAGO

The Donald's doubters said he couldn't pull it off, but the flashy developer's planned high-rise along the Chicago River may soon be the place where hype meets reality. Less than a year after opening a sales office for his 90-story Trump International Hotel and Tower, Donald Trump has signed up buyers for nearly 70% of its condominium and hotel units-more than enough to secure financing, say real estate experts.

An investor group has already agreed to provide $150 million in equity and mezzanine financing. And the developer is very close to securing a $750-million construction loan, says Charles Reiss, senior vice-president in the New York-based Trump Organization. If the pieces come together, Trump executives plan to raze the Chicago Sun-Times building in September to make way for the new high-rise.

Mr. Trump never expressed doubt, at least publicly, that the project-a joint venture between him and Chicago-based Sun-Times parent Hollinger International Inc.-would happen. The master of self-promotion helped reinforce the perception of inevitability last month, when he featured the project in his hit reality television show, "The Apprentice," and hired the show's winner, Bill Rancic, as the development's "project manager."

"From a marketing standpoint, there's nothing better that could have happened to the project," says Michael H. Zaransky, chairman of Prime Property Investors Ltd., a Northbrook-based real estate firm that agreed to buy two hotel units in the project.

Yet many in the Chicago real estate community predicted-and some hoped-that Mr. Trump would fail. There were plenty of reasons to think he would. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks lowered the appeal of trophy buildings. And Mr. Trump responded by scaling back his original plan to construct the world's tallest building.

Then, Trump executives struggled to lure office tenants to the project, which at one time included 1.6 million square feet of office space. They adapted first by shrinking the office portion of the project and finally by eliminating it this spring.

"I was totally skeptical," says Chicago developer Steven Fifield. "The more uses you put in (a building), the less likely you are going to get the project started." Getting rid of the office space, he says, "was a smart move."

For more information on condo hotels, please call Condo Hotel Center at (305) 944-3090 or send an e-mail to info@condohotelcenter.com.