The Story of Donald John Trump: Part 1

Written by Agastya Batchu

Part I: “New York City”

The 19th of January, 2021 marked the end of the Trump administration. This seems to mark the end of the long story of a man who was a businessman, debtor, billionaire, and president. Most Americans know him as the 45th President of the USA. But where did he come from, where did he go? Where did you come from, cotton eyed...Trump?

It all started when an American real estate developer met a Scottish philanthropist at a dance party. Next thing he knew, Fred Trump was married. He had five kids one of which was named “Donald John''. This man would later on become a lot more significant.

Born in 1946, Donald was raised in New York City. He went to military boarding school for ten years. His father, Fred Trump, built apartment buildings in order to create affordable housing for those who wanted to live in the city. Donald learnt a lot of things from his father, and later on would also get involved in the business.

In 1975 there was a financial recession and the city of New York suffered the consequences. Crime levels were increasing, poverty rates were increasing, and because of this the mayor was looking to expand tourism and wanted to get businessmen to invest in the city. Donald Trump used to his advantage and decided to draw up some projects with his own money.

The Commodore Hotel, what was once a major hotel in New York City, was now having financial trouble and needed repair. Trump decided that he would be the one to repair it and started a project to refurbish the entire interior, and began planning in 1975. In 1980, after some issues in negotiation with other companies, Trump started the project by himself along with Hyatt, a hotel company. At the cost of $100,000,000, he redid everything, apart from the ballroom. He scrapped the entire interior down to the steel bars and, whilst preserving the original layout of the hotel, he changed the hotel to a great degree. The hotel became renamed Grand Hyatt, as Hyatt had bought Trump the building that he renovated. However, Trump pushed for a tax break on the property for “investing in the city” during the recession. Trump would gain a $400 million tax abatement on the property, using the city as his piggybank to pay for the project so that he could go ahead and pretty much receive free money from the profits of this hotel along with Hyatt. Eventually, in 1994, Hyatt would buy all of Trump’s shares in the building, ending Trump’s involvement in the Hotel.

This was a major success for Trump. He also had another project going on. The Bonwit Teller building, formerly a department store, was bought by Trump for more “investment in the city” and Trump had planned out a new, big urban skyscraper. With a concrete frame, 58 stories, and many different things including a jeweller’s store, the Trump Cafe, and the Trump Atrium, this building would be something that became, as Trump would later on say, “big league”.

Construction was started in 1979. The project would end up costing $300 million. When it was finished, it had the Trump family’s personal residence, four restaurants, and a huge, two block Atrium; all of which were public spaces. The Atrium had an indoor waterfall, many stores, and was considered one of the greatest architectural marvels of the time. Once again, Trump demanded tax abatements. The figure is estimated to be around $160 million, but with the help of his lawyer, Trump managed to get the city to pay for most of his project again, for the same reason of investing in the city. The mayor, Ed Koch, was not in favour of this deal, but the state court overruled him.

In 1984, Trump unveiled plans to build the tallest tower in the world. Planned to be on the east side, Trump was gearing up for this, and demanded a $1 billion tax break from the city for this. This time, the answer was no; and the project never happened. This is around the time when Trump was going to switch his business, and move over to Atlantic City...