Donald Trump: Realty magnate with castles on the drawing board
Donald Trump: Realty magnate with castles on the drawing board Dy William E. Geist "DONALD! KEY. Donald! Donald!" The men were yelling, eager to call him by name. A storm front of cigar smoke was gathering above the hotel ballroom, ballroom, packed elbow-to-elbow elbow-to-elbow elbow-to-elbow elbow-to-elbow elbow-to-elbow for a breakfast hour sports forum with a crowd that included some of New York's most wealthy, powerful and famous famous men. Yet, somehow, everyone at this sports function was drawn to Donald Trump, the 37-year.old 37-year.old 37-year.old owner of the New Jersey Generals, a franchise in the upstart U.S. Football League. Donald Donald J. Trump is the man of the hour. Turn on the television or open a newspaper newspaper almost any day of the week and there he is, snatching some star from the National Football League, announcing announcing some preposterously lavish project he wants to build. Public-relations Public-relations Public-relations firms call him. offering to handle his account for nothing, so that they might take credit for the torrential hoopla. He has no public-relations public-relations public-relations agent. His competitors wonder how this can be, but watching him at the sports forum provided an explanation, while executives executives of the other teams told the audience audience about problems of negotiation and arbitration, about dirty restrooms inside inside their arenas and street crime outside outside and about "attempting to move the Meta In the right direction," Donald Trump was electrifying the room with rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat revelations, dropping names of star NFL players and coaches he would sign in a matter hours. He said further (hat he would "continue to create chaos" for the NFL and, by 'the way, that he planned to build a domed stadium in New York. LATER THAT day. Trump keeps an appointment with Philip Johnson and John Burgee, eminent architects. Models are brought in of Trump's next proposed building, a 60-story 60-story 60-story castle, Trump Castle, six cylinders of varying heights with gold leafed, coned ana crenelated tops to be built at 60th Street and Madison Avenue. There is to be a moat and a drawbridge. "My idea," says Johnson with a mischievous grin. "Very Trumpish." "Trump is mad and wonderful," says Johnson. The 77-year-old 77-year-old 77-year-old 77-year-old 77-year-old architect proclaimed proclaimed the castle his "most exciting project" ever. with castles on the drawing boards, the first tenants are moving into Trump's $123 million Trump Plaza luxury luxury cooperative apartment building at Third Avenue and 61st Street. His Generals are off to a winning start in their first season under his ownership. He is hovering attentively over his newly opened Xanadu of conspicuous consumption, the $200 million Trump Tower condominium-office-retail condominium-office-retail condominium-office-retail condominium-office-retail condominium-office-retail complex complex on Fifth Avenue, supervising the planting of every flower. He is also supervising the final touches touches on Harrah's at Trump Plaza, a mammoth $220 million casino-hotel casino-hotel casino-hotel in Atlantic City set to open next month. THUMP IS FAST becoming one of the nation's wealthiest entrepreneurs, able to buy practically anything he wants. He controls a company with assets estimated ome say conservatively conservatively estimated at $1 billion, and casino-industry casino-industry casino-industry analysts say his half interest in Harrah's may provide him with $40 million to $50 million more in annual income. He has told people in the communications communications industry that he is "very interested interested in communications," which is like a 2,000-pound 2,000-pound 2,000-pound gorilla mentioning that he is very interested in becoming carnivorous. carnivorous. Until recently, he was purchasing purchasing large amounts of RCA stock, with an eye toward securing a controlling controlling interest, but he gave up on that when the price of the stock more than doubled, lie sold the stock, profiting handsomely from the failed takeover. The heads of several Fortune 600 companies have already bought co-ops co-ops co-ops at Trump Plaza on Third Avenue, along with Gov. John Y. Brown of Kentucky and his wife Phyllis George; Martina Navratilova and Dick Clark. While critics charge that Trump is a raving egomaniac, bent on putting his. name on every inanimate object in the city, he claims that putting on the Trump name is value added. "These units are selling," says Blanche Blanche Sprague, who is in charge of sales at Trump Plaza, "because of the Trump name. 1 don't think you understand," understand," Mrs. Sprague adds. "When I walk down the street with Donald, people people come up and just touch him, hoping that his good fortune will rub off." THE TRUMP touch. It has set some people in New York to outright Trump Continued on page IA
