Plans to build Australia’s first Trump Tower have been scrapped just three months after being announced, with the local developer saying the Trump brand has become “toxic.”.
“Let’s just say that with the Iran war and everything else, the Trump brand was increasingly unpopular in Australia,” David Young, CEO of Altus Property Group, told CNN in a statement.
The 91-story Trump International Hotel & Tower Gold Coast was billed as Australia’s tallest tower, featuring a 285-room luxury hotel, high-end retail plaza, restaurants and residential apartments finished to Trump specifications, according to a February press release from Altus announcing the deal.
The project sparked backlash after it was announced by Altus and the Trump Organization, which is owned by US President Donald Trump but run by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.
In a LinkedIn post Tuesday, the Altus CEO called the backlash to the Trump Tower “grossly unfair” but said “the brand in this country has become toxic to Australians.”.
He said there is “no acrimony between the Trump family and myself” and he has been in discussions with “many high-end luxury brands” about the tower.
Young had laid the groundwork for the tower in 2007 with a “cold call to Ivanka Trump,” according to a blog post on the Altus website. »