Page 152 - Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success

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B E P A TIENT

Trump Place

took 10 years of collaboration between four very gifted people
to get it up and going. I used to think of that when I was trying
to get somewhere with the West Side rail yards in New York,
which have now become Trump Place. Then one day I realized
I’d been working on it for close to 30 years, with no collabora-
tors trying to get this going with me. I was in it alone. I think I
deserve a Tony Award or two for that. But the story itself could
win an award without spinning any yarns—or singing any
tunes—to make it interesting. It’s the perfect illustration for
the title of this book: Never Give Up!
This saga began in 1974 when I secured the option to buy
the West Side rail yards from Penn Central Railroad. The city
wasn’t doing great, and the West Side wasn’t as cool as it is now,
by a long shot, but this was riverfront property and I was getting
it at a very low price. It was my first major deal in Manhattan.

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