Page 38 - Midas Touch

By now I had an architect, a hotel partner and rough cost estimates. What I
didn’t have was financing—and a multimillion-dollar tax abatement from
the city. I was only 27 years old at the time, so it made sense to me to find
an older real estate broker who had a lot of experience. Having someone

mature would also help in the image department.

With everything proceeding on course after overcoming so many hurdles,
we ran into another snag, a real snag of epic proportions that seemed
insurmountable. Without financing, the city wouldn’t consider a tax
abatement, and without a tax abatement, the banks simply weren’t
interested in financing. We hit every obstacle possible, and I mean every
obstacle. So we decided to appeal to the bankers’ concern about the

crumbling city around them. Perhaps they would feel guilty about not
taking an active part in helping it become great again. That didn’t work
either.

After talking to what seemed like every banker in town with every appeal
we could think of, eventually we found a bank that seemed to be
interested. We spent countless hours working on the deal and it was

looking good, very good. Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone changed his
mind and came up with an issue that was of no consequence to the deal.
That just plain killed the deal. We were astounded by the abrupt change of
mind and came up with every argument possible, but to no avail. This guy
just would not budge, and I’d had it. I remember turning to my broker and
saying, “Let’s just take this deal and shove it.”

It’s one of the few times I just wanted to give up. I was worn out. It was

George Ross, my broker, my lawyer, and my occasional advisor on The
Apprentice, who managed to convince me to keep going. He wisely
pointed out how much time and effort I’d put into this project already, and
he was absolutely right. “Why quit now?” he asked me. Because I’m not a
quitter, I quickly resolved to stick it out. I also didn’t want to be a “wanna-
be” entrepreneur. This just happened to be the low point. You’ll have a few
of those too.

I came back from the low point even stronger. The low point became a
turning point, and I was more determined than ever to get this project
done. My new strategy was to explain the situation to the city, even
without financing. The Hyatt Hotel organization was definitely interested