Trump Parc and Trump Parc East are two adjoining buildings at the southwest corner of
Central Park South
59th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, running from York Avenue and Sutton Place on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan to the West Side Highway on the West Side (Manha ...
and
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
in
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
, New York City. Trump Parc (the former Barbizon-Plaza Hotel) is a 38-story condominium building, and Trump Parc East is a 14-story apartment and condominium building.
Trump Parc: Barbizon Plaza Hotel
![Trump Parc - 6th Ave and 58th St (4684640265)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Trump_Parc_-_6th_Ave_and_58th_St_%284684640265%29.jpg)
The 38-story
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
Barbizon-Plaza Hotel opened at 106 Central Park South on May 12, 1930 with 1,400
ensuite
A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically ...
rooms. It was built for $10 million by William H. Silk, owner of the
Barbizon Hotel. The architect was Laurence Emmons.
The hotel was designed to appeal to artists and musicians, with facilities including soundproof practice rooms, art studios, and two performance halls. The property was foreclosed on in 1933.
At some point, likely around
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the top of the building was altered to its present form with a stylish design. Carter B. Horsley of ''The City Review'' said, "Its only rivals in audacity are the
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
and
the former RCA/GE tower".
Aeolian Company The Aeolian Company was a musical-instrument making firm whose products included player organs, pianos, sheet music, records and phonographs. Founded in 1887, it was at one point the world's largest such firm. During the mid 20th century, it surpas ...
installed a large pipe organ at the hotel in 1930; it was moved a year later to the nearby
American Women's Association clubhouse.
During World War II, two floors of the hotel were reserved for the use of
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officers based in or passing through New York City. At this time there was a drug-store on the ground floor of the hotel. New York society ladies served tea to the British officers every afternoon.
Lambert Brussels Real Estate Corp. and
Loeb Rhoades purchased the hotel in 1973 for $11 million, and affiliated it with the
Penta Hotels chain. Despite the completion of $2 million of renovations, the hotel earned minimal profits for its new owners.
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
purchased the hotel and the neighboring apartment building in 1981. On December 14, 1985, he closed the hotel to prepare for conversion to condominiums. He renamed the property as "Trump Parc" and completed the conversion with 340 condominium units around 1988.
Trump Parc East: 100 Central Park South
![Central park south](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Central_park_south.jpg)
100 Central Park South is a 14-story building that was built as an apartment complex around 1917 by John J. Hearn.
Trump purchased the Barbizon Plaza Hotel and 100 Central Park South from
Banque Lambert Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL, french: Banque Bruxelles Lambert) was a Belgian bank that was created through merger in 1975 and became part of ING Group in 1998. It provided retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Belgi ...
in 1981 for $65 million, financed by a $50 million loan from
Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fina ...
.
As to the apartment building, Trump stated that "they practically gave it to me, because it was losing so much money under
rent control
Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves:
* Price con ...
."
He also claimed to have paid only $13 million for the two buildings.
By 1985, 60 of the building's 80 units were occupied, with about half being rent-controlled and the rest being rent-stabilized. Trump's intention was to replace the two buildings with a new one, which would be "one of the finest pieces of real estate in New York."
In a February 1985 ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' article,
Tony Schwartz detailed "how a bunch of rent-controlled and rent-stabilized tenants in an old building... have managed to do what city agencies, courts, colleagues, competitors, and the National Football League have never been able to do: successfully stand in the way of something Donald Trump wants." Trump could have bought out the rent-controlled tenants; instead, he contracted with
Citadel Management
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
I ...
, who also handled tenant resettlement and had been accused of harassment in the past. The article goes on to describe how Trump and his organization, attempting to evict the tenants, harassed them through "lapses in building security" and ignored needed repairs.
Trump (as Park South Associates) sued to evict the tenants in 1981, and in 1982 the management company ordered six tenants to comply with rules ignored for 30 years, giving them 10 days to comply. Trump, in newspaper advertisements, also offered to house homeless in the vacated units, which was seen as a threat to the remaining tenants. The tenants raised funds and hired legal counsel, receiving an injunction against the compliance orders in 1984. In 1985 the harassment case was brought to the state's
Division of Housing and Community Renewal
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
* Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
* Division (military), a formation typically consistin ...
, with the city mentioning daily harassment, "wrongful acts and omissions", bogus nonpayment notices, and utilities that were turned off, by Trump's agents.
The city lost an injunction against Trump in September 1985, with the State Supreme Court justice stating that "The danger of irreparable harm to the tenants seems to be minimal now that the challenged activities of the defendants are under the scrutiny of the various departments of the City of New York." The hearings were still open in November 1985, even though Trump had claimed victory.
Trump countersued, citing the
RICO act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
RICO was e ...
, listing charges including extortion and bribery that were committed by the tenants. Judge
Whitman Knapp
Percy Whitman Knapp (February 24, 1909 – June 14, 2004) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Previous to that service, he led a far-reaching investigation into corrupti ...
rejected the countersuit, ordering it
dismissed with prejudice
Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, "prejudice" differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical meanings.
...
.
In a 1985 ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' editorial,
Sydney Schanberg
Sydney Hillel Schanberg (January 17, 1934 July 9, 2016) was an American journalist who was best known for his coverage of the war in Cambodia. He was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two George Polk awards, two Overseas Press Club awards, a ...
called Trump a "
slumlord
A slumlord (or slum landlord) is a slang term for a landlord, generally an absentee landlord with more than one property, who attempts to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, often in deteriorating neighborhoods, and t ...
".
Trump's attorney on the case responded in an editorial, attacking Schanberg, the tenants' lawyer, the city, and calling it a "political maneuver in a mayoral election year".
Ultimately, in 1986, Trump dropped the eviction suit, allowing the tenants to stay with their rent controls in place and paying their legal fees of over $500,000. Trump stated he would not continue with demolition but would renovate the building to "take advantage of the strong real-estate market now."
After a final settlement in 1988, the building was converted to a condominium with 51 rent-regulated tenants remaining. In 2016 some rent-controlled tenants were paying less than $1000 for a one-bedroom apartment along Central Park.
Notable tenants have included
Suzanne Blackmer, who lived in the building from before Trump's purchase until her death in 2004,
Arnold Scaasi
Arnold Isaacs (May 8, 1930 – August 3, 2015), known as Arnold Scaasi, was a Canadian fashion designer who has created gowns for First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush, in addition to such notable persona ...
,
and
Eric Trump
Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...
.
References
Further reading
* "Bondholders Buy Big 6th Av. Hotel," The New York Times (July 15, 1933).
* Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes /Readers' Questions; Echoes of a Union Hall; Artificial Sunlight," The New York Times (June 6, 1999).
* "New 40-Story Hotel On Sixth Av. Opens," The New York Times (May 12, 1930).
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump Parc
1930 establishments in New York City
59th Street (Manhattan)
Donald Trump real estate
Hotel buildings completed in 1930
Midtown Manhattan
Residential buildings in Manhattan
Sixth Avenue