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TR U M P STR A TEGI ES FO R R E A L ESTA TE

BY GEORGE ...CREATIVE PROBLEM
SOLVING AT OLYMPIC TOWER ON 5TH AVENUE

As I mentioned earlier, I learned how to stop thinking like a lawyer and
think like a problem solver while I worked for Sol Goldman, who
forced me to put a price on every real estate problem. In the early
1970s, my problem-solving expertise eventually endeared me to
Arthur Cohen, another creative genius where real estate was involved,
and principal of Arlen Realty and Development Corporation, a publicly
traded entity. Cohen came up with the original idea of erecting a
mixed-use building on 51st Street and 5th Avenue in New York City
with stores on the ground floor, offices above for approximately 20
floors, and finally topped by another 20 floors containing luxury coop-
erative apartments. However, the only property he could control was
a narrow plot in the middle of the block. The plot fronted on 5th Av-
enue and was occupied by Olympic Airways, a company that was
owned by Aristotle Onassis. Cohen’s original idea was to buy the air
rights over Best & Co. which owned a large parcel of land on the cor-
ner of 5th Avenue and 51st Street. Then he would also buy the air
rights over the Cartier building on 5th Avenue and 52nd Street. The
Olympic site would be used for elevators to a sky lobby servicing a
new building that would cantilever over the Best & Co. building. I
christened this novelty building the “popsicle.” But it never came to
pass. Instead something else interesting happened on the site.
Cohen became a close friend of Meshulam Riklis who owned
Best & Co. Riklis agreed to sell Cohen the Best & Co. site so that a
normal looking building called Olympic Tower could now be built on
the site—but only if I could resolve a dispute that arose between
Riklis and Aristotle Onassis, each of whom wanted office space on
the highest floors of the new building. Since Riklis was committing
to lease several floors as part of the sale of the Best & Co. site, he
insisted on taking the top four floors. But Onassis’s ego would not
tolerate his offices being lower than Riklis. I had to find a way to
appease both of these men or the project would abort. So I sold

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