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R AISING M ONEY

concierge desk flanking it. All the building systems, such as electric,
plumbing, and fire safety, were upgraded to be the latest technology
available. All elevator cabs were refurbished and new mechanical com-
ponents installed. Agreements were reached with all major telephone
and data transmission services to provide tenants with access to the
latest technology. Originally there were two entrances on Madison Av-
enue, one on each side of a Barbie Doll store run by FAO Schwarz. We
made a deal with FAO to give up the Barbie store so that we could
create one integrated building entrance flanked by two new stores. In
return, FAO would get 50 percent of rent received in excess of the re-
duction it received when FAO gave up the Barbie store.
Everything I have mentioned didn’t happen overnight but over a pe-
riod of three years. During that period, some unusual things happened.
I hired two major real estate brokerage firms to act as co-leasing
agents for the building. When we bought the building, the prior owner
had offered to extend the lease of an affiliate of U.S. Steel Corporation
at a rental of $50 a square foot. The brokers thought that was a good
rental for 9th floor space and represented a 25 percent increase. I dis-
agreed and told them I would consider $90 a square foot. The brokers
ultimately got the tenant to agree to $65 a square foot and set up a
meeting with me to convince me to take it because that was the max-
imum rent the tenant would agree to pay and was a 62.5 percent in-
crease. I refused telling them I anticipated getting rent of $100 a
square foot or more after Trump did his magic. One of the brokers
said, “George, you’ll never see more than $65 a square foot for space
in the GM Building!” Shortly after that meeting I fired that broker. If he
didn’t share the vision, how could he sell it to others?
When the building was bought we assumed there would be very lit-
tle activity since it had virtually no vacancy and very few leases were
close to expiration. That assumption proved to be wrong. A tenant on
the 50th floor paying a low rental wanted out of their lease that had
about two years to go. They paid me a healthy amount of money to

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