Page 40 - Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success

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I L OVE A G OOD F IGHT

The 45-story, $450 million tower I hoped to build with my
partners, Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization, was, of
course, met with a fury of opposition from local community
activists and the politicians that represent them. I wouldn’t let
that stop us. I announced my intention on June 6, 2006, on The
Apprentice. Despite everything that ensued, on May 8, 2007, I’m
pleased to report, we were approved by city officials to erect this
condo hotel. Along the way, we had a few problems to deal with,
which was not a huge surprise.
The biggest obstacle was the height of the building. SoHo is
a low-rise neighborhood, and this project would significantly
alter the skyline. It would be the tallest building between mid-
town and the financial district. It’s not that SoHo isn’t zoned
for tall buildings—it is—but none have ever been built. We
wanted to change that. There were “air rights” laws—the right
to build higher—already in place that made it perfectly legal to

Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium New York

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