Not so many years ago, Trump Tower was one of the most prestigious addresses in all of Manhattan. There was 100% occupancy and a waiting list to rent even the smallest spaces in the building.
But those days are gone, and Trump Tower is now at less than 75% occupancy, the lowest level since 2013, and a sign that times are indeed tight for the Trump Organization, which is facing a major loan payment later this year, the Washington Post reports:
“In its midsection, Trump Tower is something more prosaic: a Manhattan office building, with 12 floors available for lease. The Trump Organization’s headquarters occupies two other office floors.
“The leased floors serve as part of the collateral for one of Trump’s biggest outstanding debts, a $100 million loan with the full amount due next year, according to data kept by the real estate analysis firm Trepp.”
One of the former tenants that went belly up, ironically, was Marc Fisher Footwear, which used to manufacture shoes that carried the name of Ivanka Trump:
“But earlier this year, the Trump Organization sued Marc Fisher Footwear for unpaid rent. The suit said the shoemaker had stopped paying rent in November 2020, and owed more than $1.4 million.”
One tenant, however, is indeed paying their rent on time and at an exorbitant rate: The Make America Great Again PAC, which rents the 15th floor of Trump Tower, providing $37,541.67 a month in guaranteed revenue for Trump and his company, which some suggest may be legal but is certainly not kosher:
“He’s running a con,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign-finance expert at the watchdog group Common Cause. “Talking about political expenses — but, in reality, raising money for self-enrichment.”
Then again, Donald Trump has always run a con. In his days as a real estate mogul, he was doing little more than leveraging properties with borrowed money so he could pay off other loans he owed to other banks.
It’d be tempting to call Trump’s entire life a giant Ponzi scheme, but that’d be an insult to anyone who ever ran one of those.
