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发帖数: 8600 | 4 Crowning the Comeback King
By BRETT PULLEY
Published: October 25, 1995
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Though there are still four years to go in the 90's, business and government
leaders in New York honored Donald J. Trump yesterday for pulling off what
they called "the comeback of the decade."
Mr. Trump, the developer who came to epitomize opulent wealth during the 80'
s before tumbling into deep financial trouble, has managed to erase much of
his debt and is moving ahead with major projects at a time other developers
are idling.
Judging from the attention showered on him yesterday at the Union League
Club, some of New York's civic and business leaders are quite captivated by
Mr. Trump, despite the financial uncertainties that still surround some of
his properties.
But the operative word at the luncheon was comeback, though Mr. Trump might
dispute that he ever went far away. William D. Fugazy, the limousine magnate
and chairman of the Forum Club, the group of business and civic leaders
that sponsored the luncheon, presented Mr. Trump with a boomerang encased in
glass. "You throw it and it always comes back," he said as he handed it
over.
In a flattering speech, Lieut. Gov. Betsy McCaughey called Mr. Trump "the
comeback kid." Charles A. Gargano, who as chairman of the Empire State
Development Corporation is himself considered one of the new powers of the
state, joked about a Perot-Trump presidential ticket. "He would be the most
loved Vice President since Spiro T. Agnew," he said. Mr. Gargano, who heads
the state's economic development efforts, added, "Thank you for your tax
dollars."
After the collapse of the real estate market of the 1980's, Mr. Trump's
company was left holding some $8.8 billion in debt, causing his personal net
worth to drop to a low of about $1 billion in the red by 1991.
But since then, his fortunes have changed. He continues to pursue the
trademark trophy-style projects he is known for, such as a hotel and
condominium project on the southwest corner of Central Park that is expected
to open by late 1996.
Indeed, about an hour before the luncheon, Mr. Trump and representatives
from a Hong Kong development firm huddled over drawings and models for their
planned Riverside South development, a 17-building project at the site of
the old Pennsylvania Railroad yard on the West Side.
In addition to his real estate ventures, revenues are strong throughout the
casino business, where Mr. Trump is one of the most noteworthy operators,
owning three gaming establishments in Atlantic City. "The market is quite
vibrant," said N. Bruce Turner, a gaming analyst at Solomon Brothers. "It
has lifted Donald Trump's vibrancy. Has he come back along with the market?
No question."
To be sure, for all his latest achievements, Mr. Trump is still somewhat at
the mercy of the various lenders who granted him concessions on his debt.
Also, he has recently proposed another refinancing of his Taj Mahal Casino
in Atlantic City, which has never lived up to the huge profits that he
predicted.
But at Tuesday's luncheon, with his family by his side, Mr. Trump was in
full form, gracefully taking in all the praise, like a preacher gathering up
Sunday's collections.
For the guests, who included Police Commissioner William J. Bratton,
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, and the developers Lewis
Rudin and Peter Kalikow, he recalled how in 1991, the world was far
different.
Outside the room, he proclaimed with no shortness of his characteristic
hyperbole, "I'm the biggest in real estate in New York, and I'm the biggest
in the gaming industry." |
