A hotel that launched Trump's fame in Manhattan will be demolished



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DOSSIER – In the archival photo of June 28, 1978, New York Governor Hugh Carey discusses an artistic design of the new Hyatt hotel / convention center in New York City that will be built on the site. former Commordore hotel in New York. Now called the Grand Hyatt New York, the building that has allowed Donald Trump to make a name for himself in his first big deal in Manhattan is being sold to developers who plan to demolish it. From left to right: Donald Trump; Mayor of New York Mayor Ed Koch; Carey; and Robert T. Dormer, Executive Vice President of the Urban Development Corp. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) –

The building that helped Donald Trump make a name for himself in his first major transaction in Manhattan is being sold to developers who are considering demolishing it.

Developer TF Cornerstone announced on Thursday that he and a group managing billionaire Michael Dell had agreed to buy the Grand Hyatt New York next to the Grand Central Terminal and replace it with a mixed-use tower including office space and retail outlet and a smaller hotel.

Trump is badociated with Hyatt Corp. to buy what was then the Commodore Hotel in the late 1970s, during his first access to real estate in Manhattan. He turned it into an elegant glbad tower and used his success to launch his next big bet, a few years later, the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

Trump sold its stake in the Grand Hyatt in 1996.

Neither the White House nor the Trump organization have responded to requests for comment.

When Trump reached an agreement to buy the Commodore out of Penn Central Corp., the city itself was on the brink of bankruptcy and most other developers were not interested.

While Trump was telling it, he realized that the Commodore had something special after a morning walk near the hotel.

"The lobby was so dirty that it looked like a social hotel," he wrote in "The Art of Deal," but his look attracted a sign of hope. "Thousands of well-dressed workers from Connecticut and Westchester flocked to the streets from the Grand Central Terminal and underground stations below. The city was on the brink of bankruptcy, but what I saw is a superb place. "

Eager to make his mark in Manhattan, Trump has taken the plunge, using his father's guaranteed loans and the city's generous tax cuts.

In a few years, he transformed the old Commodore, exhausted, into a reflective and brilliant glbad tower. His timing was close to perfection, too. He opened the hotel just before the boom of the 80s and was soon able to rent rooms for $ 1,100 a night.

In the latest agreement, the new building will cover 2 million square feet and will include a new 500-room Grand Hyatt. The current hotel has 1,298 rooms.

The agreement still requires the approval of local authorities and the state. The Grand Hyatt territory is owned by the Empire State Development Corp., the state's business development arm.

TF Cornerstone's partner in this transaction is MSD Partners, which invests in badets owned by Dell and its family. Dell is the founder of Dell Technologies and is estimated by Forbes at $ 34 billion.

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